THOMASTON — Bright red spots seeping into white pads placed on the ground in Thomaston, Tuesday night, were a welcome sign for firefighters. The crew had deliberately dispersed the pads over a fuel spill that resulted from a towed utility trailer and its boom tipping over just inside Oyster River Road at the intersection with Route 1. The pads are specifically designed to absorb hazardous liquids and will turn different colors depending on the chemical. On this occasion, the pads produced mostly red spots, an indicator of transmission fluid, not the brown indicator of diesel. 

No one was hurt July 12, just after 7:30 p.m., when a Commercial Paving dump truck hauling a trailer turned too fast onto Oyster River Road, as determined by both Thomaston police and fire departments. Yet, the incident forced the closure of that section of Oyster River Road for approximately three hours. The cleanup required assistance from multiple facets, and produced several phone calls. 

Shortly after the on-duty Thomaston Police officer arrived on scene, a State Trooper from Troop D happened to be passing through, as he does regularly; he stopped and remained for the duration of the cleanup. In lieu of calling in an State investigative team, the Trooper advised the firefighters on what to look for and what to ask about, according to Jaime Leo, of TFD. Also called was the Department of Environmental Protection – a standard procedure. Based on what TFD described, the DEP agent opted to not come to the scene. 

Righting the trailer and boom was a slow process requiring multiple steps that were coordinated by three Automaster crew members using two wreckers. Employing ropes and chains, they first pulled away the trailer itself. Then, with the help of a front-end loader, the boom was pulled upright. 

Automaster towed both vehicles from the scene. 

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com