A portion of Foster Street was shut down Friday and a juvenile was injured after an estimated 70 gallons of diesel spilled onto the roadway.
According to Jeff Bathke, administrator of Davison County emergency management, a diesel truck was exiting a construction site and somehow damaged its two fuel tanks, which caused the leak. The driver did not immediately realize there was a leak and continued to drive south on Foster Street onto Havens Avenue when he noticed the spill.
He pulled over into a vacant gravel lot owned by the city, Bathke said. He traveled just under a mile before realizing there was a leak, spilling an estimated 70 gallons of diesel.
One juvenile male suffered minor injuries while driving a moped, Bathke said, after slipping on the fuel, but no other information was available on the injury.
Bathke said there was an estimated 100 gallons of diesel in the tanks and because of the fast reaction time of Schoenfelder Construction, crews were able to place pans underneath the tanks. The remaining 30 gallons of diesel was captured in the containers, Bathke said.
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The southbound lane on Foster Street from Seventh Avenue to Havens Avenue was closed for part of Friday afternoon due to safety reasons, Bathke said.
Bathke said cleanup process was one of the "fastest he's ever seen" and everything was wrapped up within two hours.
Responding departments included the Mitchell Police Department, the Mitchell Fire Department, Davison County Emergency Management, the city of Mitchell Street and Traffic departments, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the state office of emergency management.
