The driver of a gasoline tanker was critically injured early Sunday after the truck caught fire following a crash in Fort Worth, officials said.
Fort Worth firefighters responded shortly after 1 a.m. to a crash involving a car and an 18-wheeler in the 13900 block of Trinity Boulevard, where power lines were knocked down and the gasoline-carrying truck caught fire, the fire department said in a statement.
The driver of the gas tanker “was trying to do everything he could to keep the gas from draining into the parking lot of the Valero gas station when it lit off,” officials said. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
Additional crews were called in, and the incident was upgraded to a level two hazardous materials incident, officials said.
Firefighters sprayed water on the tanker to keep it cool as the fire burned for hours. An environmental unit, an aircraft rescue and firefighting truck, providing foam from the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport were called to the scene, the department said.
The tanker is believed to have carried approximately 9,000 gallons of gasoline during the crash. Fire crew stayed until 7 a.m. to put the fire out and assist with the cleanup, the statement read.
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