Local News

Raeford Road Reopens To Traffic After Wreck, Oil Spill

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FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — One of Fayetteville's busiest stretches of road reopened to traffic 5-1/2 hours after a wreck caused a major oil spill.

At about 10:30 a.m., Fayetteville police responded to a wreck involving an oil tanker and a concrete truck at the intersection of Skibo and Raeford roads.

Authorities say the concrete truck rear-ended the oil truck, breaking the valve on the oil truck. As a result, 200 gallons of oil -- a mixture of home heating oil and kerosene -- spilled onto the road.

The oil truck had about 2,000 gallons of the oil mixture onboard, which was then pumped to another truck.

Raeford Road was closed to traffic as crews worked to contain the spill.

Officials said the main concern from the accident was not an explosion, but the potential for environmental damage. Hazmat crews worked to absorb runoff into Beaver Creek and to prevent additional runoff.

"With gasoline, things are flammable. A direct spark could ignite it. [With] kerosene and heating oil, you have to have heating to ignite it, so we are in a safe situation," deputy fire marshall Billy Elmore said.

Several businesses were evacuated as a precaution. Traffic was rerouted for hours before officials reopened the road at 4 p.m.

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