Fuel Spill Closes 91 Freeway for 15 Hours

A fuel tanker overturned on the Riverside Freeway on Saturday, spilling gasoline, forcing authorities to close the highway for 15 hours and causing traffic to back up for miles.

The accident occurred at 2:45 a.m. at the Lakeview Avenue overpass when the truck driver lost control of his rig, which was carrying as much as 9,000 gallons of flammable fuel, said Bruce Jacobson, spokesman for the Anaheim Fire Department.

The truck fell on its side, causing a rupture in the front part of the fuel tank, Jacobson said. About 800 gallons spilled.

The gasoline leaked onto the freeway and down a drainage channel that leads to the Santa Ana River, presenting an environmental hazard, Jacobson said.

Scores of CHP officers, firefighters and hazardous-materials workers responded to the spill. Authorities used large cylinder sponges to soak up the fuel as it flowed into the river bed. Preliminary tests did not reveal any health problems, Jacobson said. No one was evacuated.

The driver of the truck suffered minor injuries; no one else was injured.

But the accident caused a traffic logjam that left some motorists stranded for two hours, a California Highway Patrol dispatcher said.

The Riverside Freeway was closed between Imperial Highway and Tustin Avenue. The westbound lanes reopened about 11 a.m.; the eastbound lanes reopened about 5:45 p.m.

The Costa Mesa Freeway northbound offramp and parts of Lakeview Avenue also were temporarily shut down, CHP officials said.

“The accident caused major traffic problems,” the CHP dispatcher said. “There’s a lot of people stuck on the freeway out there.”