Fire and Rescue Squads Respond to Ethanol Spill

On Monday June 15, the Big Stone Fire Department, the Grant County Sheriff’s Department, Grant County Emergency Management, the Milbank Fire Department, and The Shop responded to a call of a ethanol tanker rollover and possible spill near POET in Big Stone City. The overturned semi-truck was loaded with 6,440 gallons of ethanol to be shipped to Texas to be used in the production of hand sanitizer. According to Kevin Schulke, MIlbank Fire Chief and the director of the Grant County Emergency Management, “Spilled ethanol becomes a flammable liquid hazard. Our main priority was the safety of first responders, including the firefighters and towing company operators.”

Schuelke said, “Because of the possibility the structure of the tank was compromised from the accident and as there was a waterway nearby, the preferred response was to offload the fuel. This required an access hole to be drilled into the upper portion of the overturned tank.”

“The Milbank Fire Department responded as mutual aid to provide additional manpower and water supply in case ‘things went bad,'” Schuelke said. “The removal of the liquid was completed with no substantial leak of ethanol.”