Tanker spills over 5,000 gallons of jet fuel in Camp Pendleton (CA) USMC base

What happens when a tanker truck and a car collide at 0530 on a fog-filled road whose name translates from Spanish into "The Road of the Fleas"? Almost five thousand gallons of fuel are spilled.

The crash happened on Las Pulgas Road inside Camp Pendleton, the Marine base in Southern California. The road was closed for the rest of the day because of the danger from the spill, which was contained.

Brad Long, a hazmat specialist from San Diego County told the North Country Times the tank contained over 8,000 gallons of fuel, but some 3,400 were recovered. The rest spillked out at a location about two miles east of California's I-5 interstate highway. According to Long, none of the fuel reached any of the county's waterways.

"We're evaluating the site to see if more dirt will have to be removed," said Capt. Christopher Logan, spokesperson for the military base. "Obviously anything contaminated will have to be removed, within the scope of the law."

He added that the spill is no more volatile than auto gas, though in reality jet fuel is not nearly as easy to light up as AVGAS or auto gas.

One of the two victim of the accident was evacuated to Mission Hospital in Orange County (CA), the other suffered minor injuries.

FMI: www.cpp.usmc.mil