Truck Carrying Nitrogen Crashes

A tanker truck carrying about 6,500 gallons of liquid nitrogen overturned early Tuesday on the Ventura Freeway, snarling rush-hour traffic and closing a portion of the freeway for two hours.

Although the leaking tanker truck with its cloud of white gas did not present a significant health threat, authorities shut down all northbound lanes of the freeway from 7 to 9 a.m. and temporarily evacuated a nearby fast-food restaurant as a precaution.

California Highway Patrol investigators were looking for a San Fernando Valley man whose black Mercedes-Benz was seen cutting off the Air Liquide tanker truck, causing the 7 a.m. accident near Carmen Drive.

Malibu resident John Vieira, a plumber who was on his way to work in Ventura, said hesaw the tanker trying to pass the car but the Mercedes driver kept cutting him off.

That happened at least three times, Vieira said. Finally, the truck moved into the slow lane to pass when the Mercedes cut him off at the last minute. The truck swerved onto the freeway shoulder, fishtailed and rolled over, said Vieira, who watched the crash in his rearview mirror.

“It was pretty damn crazy. It was like watching a movie scene,” said Vieira. He slowed down, then realized the driver of the Mercedes was not doing the same.

“I saw him hauling by me, so I had to speed up,” he said. “I actually ended up chasing him, but he got off the freeway at the next exit and ended up running a light.”

Vieira saw a police officer handling an unrelated accident on the street and stopped to give him the information--including the Mercedes’ license plate number, which was registered to a man in the San Fernando Valley.

After the accident, Felix Dari, who works at the Shell Station next to the Carmen Drive offramp, said she watched the driver crawl out of the truck.

“He looked fine, but still they took him to the hospital,” Dari said.

Not knowing what was in the truck, CHP officers closed the freeway, Officer Dave Webb said.

“It’s a precaution that we take until we know exactly what is in the tanker,” Webb said.

A number on the side of the tanker identifies the truck and its potential hazard, he said. Each officer in the field has an emergency response booklet that lists the numbers and tells them what precautions should be taken, Webb said.

The CHP closed the northbound lanes for two hours, while a Ventura County Fire Department hazardous materials team assessed the danger, he said.

The freeway was reopened shortly after 9 a.m., but one northbound lane and the Carmen Drive offramp remained closed until 2 p.m., causing traffic tie-ups throughout the day.

Although the liquid nitrogen did not present a health risk, officers were concerned that the chemical cloud could drift into traffic lanes and obscure visibility, Webb said.

The biggest problem faced by emergency workers was emptying the liquid nitrogen so that the truck could be set back on its wheels, said Sandi Wells, a Ventura County Fire Department spokeswoman. Workers eventually opened up a vent to allow the inert and harmless chemical to escape as a white vapor cloud, Wells said.

By about 1:30 p.m., a large crane was used to right the truck and half an hour later the vehicle was towed away. The California Department of Transportation kept the offramp closed after the truck was removed because the liquid nitrogen left a large icy slick on the road, Wells said.

Traffic investigators interviewed the driver of the truck, 36-year-old Rodney Engelholm, and several other witnesses, Webb said. Engelholm of Anaheim was treated for minor injuries at Pleasant Valley Hospital and returned to the scene briefly before being driven home.

The truck had been headed to the nuclear power plant at Diablo Canyon in San Luis Obispo County.

The liquid nitrogen has many uses but was probably going to be used for welding at the plant, said Karl Bruskotter, an accident investigator for Air Liquide.

Times photographer Steve Osman contributed to this story.