TANKER FLIPS FIREFIGHTERS MOVE QUICKLY TO PREVENT BLAZE ON FREEWAY.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

ACTON - A tanker truck bound for the China Lake Navy base hit a guardrail and overturned on the Antelope Valley Freeway, spilling thousands of gallons of jet fuel and blocking northbound traffic for hours.

The driver escaped with minor injuries and the fuel did not catch fire, but firefighters with help from a passing heavy-equipment operator had to dam up the spreading fuel to keep it from spilling into a storm drain.

``A couple of saving graces were there was no fire, there were no other vehicles involved and the fact that it was on the northbound lanes so there was no commuter traffic,'' said California Highway Patrol Officer Rusty Moore.

The crash occurred shortly before 7 a.m. Thursday on the northbound freeway just north of Santiago Road. Going up a hill, the tanker failed to negotiate a curve, then hit the right-side guardrail, but officials aren't sure why, Moore said.

Commuter Mark Abapo was following behind the tanker before it crashed.

``The next thing I knew he hit the guardrail. He swerved, he jackknifed and he flipped over,'' Abapo said.

Abapo and another motorist stopped and ran to check on the driver.

``Both of us went over to the truck to try to pull him out, but he was OK,'' said Abapo, who had been driving home to Quartz Hill from work at a Tarzana hospital.

Truck driver Jeffrey Byrd, 39, of San Bernardino escaped with only bumps and bruises, authorities said.

The tanker was carrying 7,300 gallons of jet fuel, and about 3,700 to 5,000 gallons leaked out, officials said.

Los Angeles County firefighters piled up dirt into dams to contain the spreading fuel with help from a man who had been hauling a backhoe on a trailer, Moore said.

``That saved a lot of environmental headaches,'' Moore said.

The fuel remaining in the truck was pumped out and an environmental cleanup firm was called in to remove the spilled fuel and any contaminated dirt, officials said.

Southbound commuter traffic wasn't halted by the crash, which occurred where the lanes are separated by about 100 yards and the northbound lanes are out of sight of the southbound lanes, officials said.

Northbound traffic was diverted off the freeway at Crown Valley Road in Acton and detoured along Sierra Highway to Soledad Canyon Road south of Palmdale.

Cleanup crews worked to get the spill cleaned up before homebound commuters arrived Thursday afternoon. Northbound lanes except for the car- pool lane were reopened just before 2 p.m.

Charles F. Bostwick, [phone]

chuck.bostwick(at)dailynews.com

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3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color in AV edition only) ACTON: Firefighters work on an overturned tanker truck carrying jet fuel in the northbound lanes of the Antelope Valley Freeway; traffic was blocked for hours.

(2 -- color -- ran in AV edition only) Vehicles are stuck in traffic on northbound Sierra Highway between Santiago Road and Crown Valley Road after the truck crash on Thursday.

(3 -- color -- ran in AV and SAC editions only) Crews check out the crashed tanker truck. Driver Jeffrey Byrd, 39, escaped the vehicle with only bumps and bruises, authorities said. The tanker was carrying 7,300 gallons of jet fuel.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer