AIKEN COUNTY, S.C. () – Shortly after 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon, the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office was called to a scene where a tractor-trailer had gone off a bridge on I-20 at Highway 1.
“The tractor-trailer was transporting hazardous material. This material has been identified as methyl acetate, a highly flammable substance,” stated Major Jason Griffin of the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office.
“I just saw the 18-wheeler leaking some fluid, and notice it said flammable,” said Bahseem Peterson, who assisted the driver from the truck. “We were trying to make sure everyone moved back as far as possible and helped the young lady out of the 18-wheeler to get her to a safe distance.”
The driver had to be cut out of the truck and was transported by EMS to MCG.
“I saw the truck go off of the overpass, so I took off running,” said Ashley Loftin, who helped the driver out of the truck. “They had to cut her seatbelt off of her, and she was just saying, get me out of the truck, get me out of the truck. Because I think she was afraid it was going to blow up.”
On the scene are the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office, South Carolina Highway Patrol, State Transport Police, Aiken County Emergency Management, Aiken County Hazmat, Center Fire Department, and Department of Transportation.
“The fire department is on scene for fire suppression. Emergency management is working with the fire department and the hazmat team to try and control the leak. There’s an off-site company coming from Columbia that is bringing a group down to try and offload the hazardous material,” said Griffin.
Interstate 20 is shut down at Exit 18 and 29. Highway 1 at East Frontage Road and Fulmer Road will all be closed for an extended period of time with detours in place.
“A code red was sent out for a one-mile radius to do a shelter-in-place just to mitigate the traffic flow around the hazardous material. As well as a couple of businesses nearby, they were evacuated,” said Griffin.
These detours are expected to last around 10 to 12 hours. If the estimate holds, the roads would remain shut down until 2 a.m. Wednesday.
