The Barrier Highway, 85km west of Cobar, was closed for approximately three hours last Wednesday as Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) crews worked to clean up after a truck accident.
Cobar Station 256 firefighters received a call to attend the scene of a B Double semi trailer rollover just before 1pm last Wednes-day with the Cobar crew arriving onsite at approximately 2pm.
They worked with the Fire and Rescue NSW Hazardous Materials crew and Rural Fire Service units, who were also called in to help.
The truck driver escaped injury however there were concerns for the stability of the truck’s load of phosphorous acid (a chemical used to make fertilizer).
The fire crews worked for four hours to secure the truck’s load and they also mopped up a minor diesel spill which occurred dur-ing the accident.
Fire and Rescue NSW Station 256 Cobar deputy captain Alex Lennon said the nature of the accident required the highway to be closed for about three hours in total.
He said however they were able to let some traffic through from time to time dur-ing the clean up operation.
The Cobar crew returned to town at 6pm to grab some extra gear, warm clothes and food and returned to the site later that night at 9pm.
They returned to assist the heavy vehicle recovery team as the vehicle was righted and stayed on site for a further four hours in case any of the chemicals spilled during the re-covery process.
