Residents in the town of Highview nearly viewed an explosive disaster on Thursday afternoon when a gas tanker fell off its semi-tractor. A tanker truck filled with 8,000 gallons of gasoline came off at the intersections of Highway 17 and a Hamilton County road.
The truck was operated by Kendrick Gearhart of Eagle Grove who escaped injury. It was not known how the tanker became separated in the first place. The ruptured tanker came to rest near an area of railroad tracks. Due to the accident the intersection was closed to traffic for several hours yesterday afternoon. Webster City firemen stopped the leakage of the gasoline once they arrived at the accident site.
There was no fire reported. Hazmat crews worked through the afternoon to prevent more gas from seeping into the ground with the tanker’s contents transferred to another tanker.