Grafton police pull over semi tractor-trailer leaking fuel, fire department called out to clean it up

GRAFTON -- Grafton police on Wednesday morning, July 8th noticed a semi tractor-trailer leaking fuel onto the roadway -- and pulled it over. Then, the Grafton Fire Department was called out to help clean up the fuel.

It happened around 10:00 a.m.

Grafton fire officials say at that time, a Grafton police officer noticed a semi tractor-trailer that was leaking fuel onto the roadway, and pulled it over in the area of I-43 and Highway 60.

The Grafton Fire Department was called out to the scene to deal with the fuel on the roadway.



Fire officials say it appears there was a malfunction in the truck’s engine as it relates to how the fuel was not being burned, but instead being discharged onto the roadway. Once the truck's driver shut the truck’s engine off, the leaking stopped.

However, that was after the truck had traveled 2, 280 feet, (about a half-mile).

The start of the leaking occurred near the Water Street Brewery in the 2600 block of Washington, east of I-43.

The truck then went west on Washington/Highway 60 over the freeway to where the officer stopped the truck on the on-ramp to southbound I-43.

To mop up the diesel fuel that was on the roadway, the Grafton Fire Department used tremendous amounts of oil dry and were assisted by Ozaukee County Emergency Management officials, the Ozaukee County Highway Department and the Grafton Department of Public Works.

Fire officials say this was tremendously challenging as the fuel was spread out over multiple lanes of traffic, for about a half-mile, and the scene was complicated by the fact that it was in the midst of an interstate highway interchange.

Ozaukee County Emergency Management officials will help the Grafton agencies recoup the costs for the clean up from the trucking firm.

None of the fuel got into the sewer system, or into any wetlands or waterways adjacent to the roads.