More than 144 people were without power Tuesday after a fuel
tanker truck hauling a butane mixture partially turned over along
U.S. Route 6, two miles west of Kane Borough in Wetmore
Township.

There were no injuries reported and none of the contents of the
trailer spilled out of the container.

According to Kane-based state police Cpl. Robert Klinger, at
9:20 a.m., a Freightliner rig operated by Robert B. Fetter, 57, of
Brockway, was traveling along Route 6 when the rear tires of the
trailer went into a ditch along the highway while the rig was
turning into a business.

After doing so, Klinger said it pulled the trailer onto its
right side and turned the tractor half over.

Reports at the scene indicated the rig was turning into Austin’s
Garage.

The trailer then hit and broke off a utility pole as it turned
over, Klinger said, adding Fetter was driving for McIlvaine
Trucking International of Walbridge, Ohio.

Klinger said the tanker was partially emptied into another
tanker and then the system was turned back over by a local towing
company. There was no word on exactly how many gallons of material
was in the tanker at the time of the crash.

According to McKean County Emergency Management Agency Director
Steve Nelson, the trailer was hauling a mixture of butane and
gasoline, with 60 percent of the load being gasoline.

“Due to the potential hazards associated with the accident, and
as sensitive as the product is, we evacuated the local area,”
Nelson said. “In any event like this, life and safety is our first
concern. If anything were to go wrong, we wanted to make sure
everybody was out of the area.”

Nelson said a slight bit of odor escaped from the truck, adding
butane is two times heavier than air and settles in low areas.

“The Kane Fire Department and the Haz Mat officer did some
monitoring with a combustible gas meter to make sure there were no
saturated areas,” Nelson said, adding there was no water source
endangered by the accident.

Along those lines, Klinger said due to the potential of a spill,
Route 6 was closed to traffic in both directions for about five
hours.

Fred Solomon, manager of corporate communications for Allegheny
Power, said as of Tuesday afternoon, 66 customers were still
without power, with crews on scene working to restore it by
nightfall.

Klinger said the power was cut while crews worked to clean up
the area.

The rig sustained minor damage, according to Klinger, adding
Fetter was wearing his seatbelt at the time of the accident.

State police were assisted at the scene by personnel from Kane
Borough Police, the Kane, Ludlow, Sheffield, Mount Jewett and
Highland Township volunteer fire department’s, Nelson and Bruce
Manning, deputy director of the McKean County Emergency Management
Agency, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and Allegheny
Power.

On stand-by were such agencies as the Mount Jewett Volunteer
Fire Department at the Kane station, Ridgway Borough Fire
Department at Highland Township and United Refining Co. of Warren,
who had a foam unit on stand-by at the refinery.

(Era Correspondent Fran De Lancey contributed to this
report.)