When a tanker truck loaded with 10,000 gallons of fuel overturned last Friday on Telegraph in Dearborn, many of us saw the flashing lights from police and fire crews but what we didn’t see is all of the other behind-the-scene work that took place to ensure residents remained safe.

We thought it would be worth mentioning all of the hard work that took place sight unseen. It’s a good example of teamwork and it shows how our tax dollars are put to good work for proper emergency response and our safety, too. The response teams that jumped into action involved numerous city departments, outside agencies and private firms hired by the City working together. It took a lot of pre-planning and practice to ensure all the right things would be done for such an accident.

 To that we say, well done. Here’s a rundown of who took part in the behind the scenes work:

• Dearborn police officers closed Telegraph and access points from nearby side streets to traffic, and also set up a safety perimeter around the area. The road was immediately closed to traffic. It was soon determined that the tanker was leaking fuel and that it appeared that the gas was entering nearby storm sewers. Homes in a four or five-block area were evacuated as a precaution. (Residents were able to return to their homes early the next morning.)

• The Dearborn Fire Department served as the lead response agency. Battalion Chief John Hay acted as incident commander and issued the calls for all of the resources needed to deal with the incident. 

• Firefighters arriving at the scene attended to the tanker driver’s medical needs, helping the driver at the vehicle despite the extreme hazard of leaking fuel.

• Firefighters sprayed special foam from fire department apparatus to help suppress gasoline vapors.

• The Department of Public Works (DPW) provided road salt and street barricades, and its Water Division provided maps of area sewer lines, so that the flow of fuel that made it into the sewers could be tracked.

• The Dearborn Recreation Department and the City’s emergency management coordinator opened the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center as a shelter in the event any evacuating residents did not have family or friends to stay with.

• Representatives of other City departments stood ready to use Dearborn’s reverse 9-1-1 system if it were needed to quickly advise residents of any public safety messages. A second, Wayne County-wide information system was also on standby if needed. (Neither were.)

• The Wayne County Hazardous Materials Response Team was called to the scene. Dearborn helps fund the team and contributes firefighters as team members. The team conducted monitoring of the air and sewers in the area, identified the five leak points on the tanker, plugged them and created the tap needed to pump the tanker’s fuel into another tanker for transport away from the scene.

• The Wayne County Airport Authority (which operates Detroit Metro Airport) brought one of their specialized vehicles to the scene. The vehicle carries high-volume expansion foam, which would have been available to suppress any fuel fire that might have occurred.

• State Farm Insurance agent Bob Zakar volunteered the all-night use of his Telegraph Road office to help first responders.

• The Salvation Army provided food and other support to response personnel.

• Representatives of the U.S. Coast Guard monitored the situation, in the event that leaking fuel had made it from the sewers into the Rouge, and from there to the Detroit River.

• Representatives of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality were also alerted, and monitored the response.

• Also alerted and ready to respond were a variety of other agencies such as Wayne County roads and water system officials, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department and the Michigan State Police.

• The City also contracted with private firms to provide assistance:  VacAll Service of Taylor cleaned up the spilled fuel and J&M Towing of Dearborn righted the overturned tanker and towed it away, allowing Telegraph Road to reopen to traffic.

• City officials also acknowledged the cooperation of the owner of the company that owned the overturned tanker – Fuels Transportation, Inc., of Woodhaven – indicating that the owner stayed at the scene until the incident was resolved.