Fredericton Car Accident – On Wednesday afternoon near Douglas, a collision between an SUV and a dump truck resulted in the death of a 37-year-old man from Miramichi and sent both cars careening down an embankment in the direction of the St. John River. According to the authorities, the pickup truck managed to remain on dry land while the sport utility vehicle (SUV) that the deceased was driving ended up in the water. According to RCMP Cpl. Stephane Esculier, the driver of the SUV passed away at the site of the accident, and the driver of the dump truck was sent to a hospital in Fredericton with injuries that were not considered to be life-threatening.
Because of the collision that occurred north of Fredericton, Route 105 was blocked for a number of hours, and gasoline from the automobiles leaked into the river. According to David McKinley, the assistant deputy fire chief in Fredericton, workers were required to first take care of the passengers of the cars and then stable the vehicles before dealing with the gasoline. As a result, there was a delay of one hour in putting fuel absorbent booms into the river. According to McKinley, “We probably had anywhere up to fifty feet or even more, I suppose, of sheen in the water of the fuel… that was floating on top of the water.” “The odor of gasoline could be picked up from the highway.”
Both vehicles were leaking fuel, but according to McKinley, the dump truck only had fuel in one of its tanks and the hydraulic system was intact, so the risk of contamination was much reduced. According to him, the overall amount of petrol that was spilled from both cars was around 200 liters. McKinley said that dealing with the petroleum slick presented a problem, but the firemen were able to soak up as much of it as they could. As soon as the two cars were brought to a stop on the road, the booms and pads were taken off of them and thrown away.
Vicky Lutes, a representative for the provincial environment department, wrote an email to CBC News in which she stated that the discharge of gasoline had been “contained.” “An environment inspector was on scene today and has completed a site assessment,” Lutes said on Thursday. “The investigation is now complete.” Although there may be repercussions on creatures that interact directly with the fuel, Michelle Gray, the acting dean of forestry and environmental management at the University of New Brunswick, stated in an email that the overall impact should be “minimal.”
“Dumping two hundred liters of gasoline or oil into a river or stream is not an ideal thing to do at any time or any place,” said Gray. “However, because rivers have a large volume of water and are constantly moving, the oil will dissipate more quickly in a river than it would in a lake or pond with water that is still or standing.”
