Chemical spill reported at Love’s Travel Stop in South Jacksonville

By Gary Scott on May 16, 2018 at 12:44pm

A local store and popular sleeping post for truckers was almost closed down due to a chemical spill last night into early this morning. According to the Jacksonville Journal-Courier, no one was injured, and no major damage has been reported at this time.

South Jacksonville firefighters, as well as the Jacksonville Fire Department’s hazardous materials team and local police were on scene at Love’s Travel Stop at 201 Love’s Drive to clean an undetermined amount of nitric acid, a highly flammable chemical, which leaked from a parked tanker truck.

Apparently, the three departments were on Love’s Drive for roughly eight hours. Due to the efforts of the fire departments and the South Jacksonville police, the travel stop did not need to be closed or evacuated.

Reports from South Jacksonville Police Chief Tim Mann to the Journal-Courier said the chemical leaked from a small hole in the double-walled tank of the truck, which was owned by Laidlaw Trucking of Ontario, Canada. The driver of the tanker, which had a capacity of thirty thousand gallons, fell asleep last night, woke up this morning to find the leak and immediately called the authorities.

The Illinois Emergency Management Agency was notified and monitored the process of the clean-up efforts based on information provided by the agencies on scene.