Fairplay, Colo.—The Colorado Highway Patrol had a contractor team in full protective gear working nearly 12 hours cleaning up 10,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate spilled across U.S. Highway 285 south of here late Friday, March 23, when a trailer hauling the fertilizer tipped over after becoming unhitched from a pickup truck. The local fire department, regular troopers, and hazmat technicians were on the scene, while a contractor crew of four or five worked until early in the morning using a front loader to clean up the spill, which spread across both lanes of the highway. “They scooped it up and put it into another trailer and hauled to the farm where it was headed in the first place,” Sgt. Josh Downing, supervisor of the state patrol hazardous materials section, told Green Markets. “They finished up around 2:00 a.m. the next morning.” There were no citations since the trailer was rated for the load it was carrying. Although highway traffic was shut down in both directions for several hours, because of the late hour there was little or no inconvenience for motorists. Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. Mike Baker reported that the driver of the pickup truck was not injured. He said the immediate area is not heavily populated, so no evacuations were required, and that at first everyone at the scene was moved away until it was determined whether there was any danger from the spilled fertilizer. There were no reports about any water source being in danger of contamination. The highway was reopened at about 5 a.m.
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