Tanker Spill Closes 101 Freeway

A tanker truck laden with gasoline overturned on the Ventura Freeway early Sunday, spilling fuel across traffic lanes and down a culvert that drains into the ocean, killing crabs, fish and seabirds as high tide was receding.

The 3:45 a.m. crash shut down a 10-mile stretch of the heavily traveled freeway between Carpinteria and Ventura, creating delays as long as three hours for Sunday travelers.

Traffic in both directions was routed through the Ojai Valley on the small, winding lanes of California 150 and California 33. All lanes were reopened in the late afternoon after cleanup crews spent hours spreading foam and sand across the highway to sop up fuel.

The truck driver, Mark Hurtado, 43, of Bakersfield, sustained minor injuries and refused medical treatment, officials said. He was hauling approximately 8,500 gallons of gasoline from Los Angeles to San Luis Obispo and apparently fell asleep at the wheel, a California Highway Patrol spokesman said.

“The road is pretty straight right there, so I don’t think this was a failure to negotiate [a turn],” Sgt. Bruce Clark said.

Fearing an explosion, officials evacuated the nearby Cliff House Hotel and a residence on Old Rincon Highway. All 24 rooms in the hotel were occupied, and guests were roused from their sleep about 5 a.m., said desk clerk Mike Woolfolk.

The accident also delayed train travel on the line that runs adjacent to the interstate because officials feared sparks from cargo and passenger trains could ignite gas vapors, an Amtrak spokesman said.

Clark said the driver lost control of his truck after he swerved to the right shoulder and struck a concrete barrier. The truck then careened out of control, sideswiped a telephone pole, ran over a highway call box and flipped over, landing upside-down in the freeway median.

*

Hurtado, trapped in the cab and fearing it might explode, was freed by an unknown motorist who broke the windshield and helped him escape, officials said. The motorist left the scene shortly thereafter.

“This passerby was a guardian angel,” said Joe Luna, a spokesman for the Ventura County Fire Department. “Most people today don’t even want to stop.”

Hurtado, who works for Bakersfield-based Cox Petroleum Transportation, was drenched with fuel. He showered at a nearby fire station but refused any other treatment.

Jim Bolla, Cox Petroleum’s operations manager, said Hurtado has worked for the company for three years and regularly drives during the early morning hours. He said company representatives administered a drug test shortly after the accident but had not received the results.

Based on the driver’s past good performance, Bolla said, the company did not expect to find drug use.

Approximately 4,700 gallons of fuel spilled down a storm drain and directly into tide pools brimming with crabs, shrimp and small fish.

*

Ken Wilson, an environmental specialist with the state Department of Fish & Game, estimated that thousands of crabs were killed by the gasoline. He said he also saw dozens of dead shrimps as well surf perch and sculpin, small fish that inhabit tide pools.

Two dead shore birds, called plovers, were also recovered, he said.

“There could have been other birds that were doused and then flew away and died,” Wilson said.

As sea gulls poked among the dead crabs and shrimp, Wilson said, a number would probably get sick from ingesting the infected creatures.

“It is just one of the unfortunate events . . . that has effects on the food chain,” he said.

Crews worked late into the day, laying down berms to contain the fuel and mopping up the spill. After the truck was towed out of the median, crews studied the extent of contamination to the soil there.

The stench of gasoline was overwhelming as the masked workers pushed brooms and built berms.

The crash caused traffic headaches for motorists trying to travel on the 101 Freeway. What was normally a 20-minute trip took motorists hours as they looped around a 35-mile detour.

Several minor accidents along the detour route added to the frustration, according to the CHP.

Hundreds of drivers exited the freeway at Carpinteria Avenue, north of the detour, to seek gas, food and directions for a quicker way home. Many said the backup stretched more than 15 miles into Santa Barbara.

“I’m 45 minutes from home, and it’s going to take me five or six hours to get there,” said Oxnard resident Alfred Ayala, who had been vacationing in Buellton with his wife and their four children.

Standing outside a gas station with lines of more than 20 people waiting to use the bathrooms, Ayala, 26, said he would take the huge delay in stride.

*

“We’ll just wait it out. Get something to eat and maybe go find a park,” he said.

For Chino Hills resident Kandus Hudgins, the freeway closure was a sour ending to a weekend wine-tasting outing with five friends in Los Osos.

“All the freeway is backed up. What are you going to do?” she said.

Times Community News reporter Holly J. Wolcott contributed to this story.