A 45-gallon barrel of highly corrosive acid fell off the back of a tractor trailer in Cobourg on Thursday, June 3, 2021.
At approximately 4 p.m. Cobourg Fire Department and Cobourg Police were called to the bridge on County Road 2, just east of Normar Road in Cobourg.
A firefighter with Cramahe Township Fire Department spotted the barrel laying at the edge of the roadway and notified the appropriate agencies.
Captain Brian Blaind said when they received the call it wasn’t known what was in the barrel.
Firefighters were able to determine the product was a corrosive acid.
The fire department did get hold of the shipping company and while they were in the process of determining where the driver of the transport was, he came over the bridge heading west and was re-tracing his route to see where the barrel fell off.
The driver indicated to firefighters that he had made a delivery in the area of Normar Road, but due to COVID wasn’t allowed inside the building.
When he carried on to his next destination in Colborne, he was unaware the back door of the trailer hadn’t been secured.
As he turned east on County Road 2 from Normar Road the barrel fell from the back of the transport and onto the roadway.
The driver of the transport headed east to Grafton and then went on Highway 401 to Colborne. Along the way he was alerted by another transport driver the trailer door wasn’t shut properly and re-traced his route back to Cobourg.
“There was a mis-communication about who was to shut the door.”
Blaind said the container stayed intact with no leaks.
“Very lucky. From what we can tell from using our resources to identify the product – it’s a quite a dangerous product so we’re very lucky it did not leak considering it came off the back of a truck.”
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
