Accident causes herbicide spill Southwest of Shenandoah

The Department of Natural Resources is assessing the damage today from an accidental spill of herbicide Thursday afternoon southwest of Shenandoah. D-N-R spokesman Kevin Baskins says the accident involved a tank being pulled over a bridge. He says the bridge collapsed as the tank was being pulled across Mill Creek in Fremont and the tank fell over the bridge into the water. He says 15-hundred gallons of nitrogen fertilizer, atrazine and product called hornet spilled out. Baskins says the driver apparently suffered minor injuries. He says they’re now trying to count all the fish that were killed. He says there were some old beaver dams downstream that help slow the flow of the material. He says there was a quarter mile of the stream where there was a heavy fish kill, and D-N-R biologists are on the scene this morning trying to count the dead fish. Baskins says they’re trying to clean up what they can to prevent any further damage.He says they’re trying to get some earth-moving equipment to set up more dams to keep the product from moving further downstream. Baskins says other workers are trying to pull the tank out of the water.