Two trucks were involved in separate serious incidents in Co Clare yesterday including one where a tree fell on top of a car.
The first incident happened at around 11.00am when emergency services were alerted to an incident in Lissycasey.
An articulated lorry collided with a tree which then fell on top of a passing car. The incident happened on a side road just yards from the main Ennis to Kilrush N68 road.
The driver of the car escaped uninjured but she was said to be lucky to have been unharmed.
One local man said: “You couldn’t even see the car for the tree. It was lucky that woman got out of alright.”
Fire crews responding to that call met another serious incident on the N68 at Darragh while en route.
Another articulated lorry suffered a blowout that left debris including large chunks of tyre rubber scattered over a wide area.
The trucks diesel tank was ruptured when the tyre exploded however the driver didn’t realise the extent of the damage until he was a further kilometre along the road.
Up to a thousand litres of fuel are thought to have contaminated the road after the truck’s fuel tank was punctured.
A customer at a nearby garage said: “He just kept on going. You could have heard the bang miles away. I couldn’t believe the driver continued without noticing.”
The route was left in a hazardous condition prompting emergency crews to issue an appeal through local and national media for traffic to slow down or avoid the area.
One of the fire crews responding to the original call in Lissycasey stopped to deal with fuel spill incident. Further appliances and crews were mobilised to assist.
While fire personnel used specialist chemical treatments to deal with the spillage, traffic management procedures were implemented.
However, while traffic was kept flowing for some time, emergency services had no option but to close the route so they could effectively deal with the serious spillage which left the road in a treacherous condition.
Gardaí operated a ‘shuttle’ procedure where traffic at opposite ends of the incident was stopped and only allowed through with a Garda escort.
Local authority workers arrived later to grit the affected areas.