Propane tanker crash, fire in Irasburg prompts evacuations, road closures
IRASBURG, Vt. (WCAX) - A propane tanker crashed and caught fire in Irasburg Monday morning, prompting evacuations in the area and multiple road closures.
Police said Monday evening they expect those evacuations in Irasburg and Coventry and road closures to remain in place overnight due to the slight risk of the tanker truck exploding. First responders are there monitoring the propane burning off.
“I just heard a huge, loud, crazy, crash. Like, explosion is what it sounded like. It actually shook the house,” said Meghan Chilafoux, who called 911 early Monday morning after seeing a tractor-trailer unit crash into the Black River across the street from her house in Irasburg. “Picked up my phone, called 911 to get emergency people out here. I knew there was definitely a vehicle that had gone off. I made sure I woke everybody up in the house. My husband came down and helped to come outside to assess the situation.”
Police said it happened just before 7 a.m. The tanker loaded with thousands of gallons of propane slid off a bridge due to snowy conditions on Route 14.
The driver, Casey McQuade, 44, was able to escape the truck and was not injured, but transported to the hospital as a precaution.
The propane in the truck continued to burn off Monday evening as part of the vehicle’s safety design. That will keep people who live in a one-mile radius of the crash out of their homes Monday night.
“Just be understanding of the precautions we are putting in place. We completely understand, we don’t want people out of their house any more than they want to be out of there. But we want everyone to go home at the end of the day, including our first responders,” said Patrick McLaughlin, the chief of the Vermont Hazardous Materials Response Team.
Local fire departments evacuated residents within a one-mile perimeter, and two nearby schools-- the Coventry Village School and the New Hope Bible School-- dismissed children early. Police advised parents of students at the two schools to contact administrators Tuesday morning regarding the status of classes.
The American Red Cross opened an evacuation shelter at 5:30 p.m. at Irasburg Town Hall.
Despite the evacuation, Chilafoux said she was glad everyone involved in the crash was OK.
“Because of having our older ones, and with my husband, it’s, somebody needs to make sure whoever was in that vehicle or that situation they’re OK, and the secondary is yes, let’s get us out,” she said.
Multiple roads remain closed in the area, including:
- Vermont Route 14 in Irasburg south of Route 5 in Coventry to Vermont Route 58 in Irasburg
- Vermont Route 58 in Irasburg
- Alderbrook Road and Vermont Route 14 in Coventry
- U.S. Route 5 and Vermont Route 14 in Coventry
Members of the public are asked to avoid the area.
We don’t yet know how much propane made its way into the Black River. That’s something officials are working to determine.
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