Tanker Truck

A Baltimore County man was killed and traffic was snarled for hours yesterday morning when two trucks and a minivan caught fire after a series of crashes on Interstate 95 in White Marsh The accident closed the northbound lanes of I-95 between the Baltimore Beltway and the Harford County line for about eight hours as emergency officials attempted to clear twisted, charred wreckage. Eric Raymond Bates, 31, of Blue Spire Circle in Middle River, was killed when his van struck a tractor-trailer that had overturned about 4:50 a.m. after the driver lost control.

One person died and three others, including a state highway worker, were injured yesterday after a five-vehicle crash that forced the closure of the outer loop of the Beltway in Arbutus, authorities said. An elderly man was killed after his Toyota Camry was caught up in the chain-reaction crash, which ended with a sport utility vehicle turned on its side and a tanker truck sitting atop a trailer towed by a State Highway Administration truck. "I've never seen anything as gruesome as that," said Curt James, a 45-year-old employee of a lawn-treatment company who said he was working near the highway when he saw the crash.

Port Deposit hopes to beef up traffic enforcement following Friday night's fatal crash and explosion of a loaded gasoline tanker truck. Repairs to utilities and other cleanup activities were largely wrapped up by Tuesday in the town after a tractor trailer crashed and became engulfed by fire Friday night, killing the truck driver, a Maryland man , Maryland State Police said. Mayor Wayne Tome said Monday he would be meeting with the Cecil County Sheriff's Office soon to help better enforce the restriction on trucks over five tons from entering the town.

Elderly man dies in fire at Parkville apartment An elderly Parkville man died in an apartment fire Sunday morning, the Baltimore County Fire Department said. Officials withheld the victim's name, pending family notification. According to investigators, fire dispatchers received a call at 10:54 a.m. reporting the smell of smoke at 8401 Nunley Dr., in the Ridge Garden Apartment complex. Firefighters from the Parkville Fire Station found the victim, who was in his 90s, dead in his kitchen and surrounded by smoke, but very little fire.

An off-duty Baltimore police officer who tried to pass a truck on the Hanover Pike -- despite a double yellow line -- caused a head-on collision that killed an Upperco woman early yesterday, Baltimore County police said.Antoinette Rupp, 49, of the 5500 block of Emory Road was dead at the scene of the accident, said county police spokesman Sgt. Kevin Novak.Officer Ralph Raymond Archibald, 36, of the 3000 block of Crown Circle in Manchester was flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where a nursing spokeswoman said he was stable in serious condition last night.

Baltimore police found a tanker truck they believe was involved in an accident this month that killed a 67-year-old bicyclist at a downtown intersection and have determined that John R. "Jack" Yates, who got caught in the rear wheels of the truck, was at fault in the incident. Yates, a Charles Village resident, was riding southbound behind the truck about 11:30 a.m. Aug. 4 on Maryland Avenue at West Lafayette Avenue, police said. He struck the back of the vehicle and became entangled in its rear wheels as the truck made a right turn onto Lafayette, according to police.

The Maryland State Highway Administration has postponed the planned closure of Route 1 at Conowingo Dam until Monday, Nov. 14, the agency said Wednesday, citing weather concerns. The SHA had planned to close part of Route 1 at Conowingo Dam all day Thursday in order to resurface and repair highway damage at the intersection of Routes 1 and Route 222 (Rock Spring Road) caused by a fuel tanker truck accident and spill Oct. 26. The same work will now be done Monday because inclement weather was forecast for Thursday, SHA spokesman Charlie Gischlar said.

A 4,000-gallon tanker truck leaked corrosive chloride yesterday, shutting a heavily traveled stretch of U.S. 50 in Lanham near the Capital Beltway as hazardous-materials crews worked to clean up the spill. The driver of the truck was traveling west on U.S. 50 between Lottsford Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Highway in Prince George's County about 6 p.m. when he noticed the truck leaking ferric chloride, an acidic chemical used for wastewater treatment and etching metal. The spill triggered a Level 3 alert - the most serious hazmat response - bringing in resources across the county to contain the spill and prevent it from entering nearby streams.

The driver of the tanker truck that exploded on Interstate 95 this week was seen slumped forward in his cab shortly before his truck ran over a barrier and plunged from an overpass onto the highway, according to a source familiar with the investigation. The account was given to police by a motorist who saw the driver, 64-year-old Jackie M. Frost of Finksburg, on Interstate 895 as he approached the overpass, the source said. It suggests a medical emergency as a likely possibility for the crash, which left four dead.

Two state troopers were overcome by fumes last night after stopping a chemical tanker on the Beltway. The tanker was leaking hazardous material used to make paints and plastics.One trooper became sick after stopping the tanker between Greenspring and Park Heights avenues after he smelled a strong odor and the second when he arrived on the scene as a backup unit. Both troopers were treated at Sinai Hospital and released.During the next five hours, from 10:30 p.m. yesterday to 3:30 a.m. today, police first shut down two westbound lanes and then all three as repairs were made to fix a defective escape valve seal atop the tanker.