Fuel spill from overturned tanker closes Rockaway Turnpike on Nassau/Queens border

A fuel spill from an overturned tanker truck has forced the closure of heavily trafficked Rockaway Turnpike in Meadowmere Park, with fuel spilling into storm drains and into Jamaica Bay, officials said.

"The 12,400-gallon gasoline tanker, that was loaded with approximately 8,500 gallons of product, has spilled approximately 2,000 gallons of product onto the street, storm drains, and into the waterways of Jamaica Bay. The leak has mostly been stopped at this time," Nicholas Corrado, deputy county fire coordinator for Nassau County, said in a statement.

Nassau police said the tanker overturned when its 42-year-old male driver was traveling east on East Avenue and tried to make a left turn onto Rockaway Turnpike, near the Queens/Nassau border.

About 30 Long Island fire departments, the FDNY and Nassau police were on the scene Wednesday evening, along with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Coast Guard, Corrado said.

No serious injuries were reported. Rockaway Turnpike was closed from Peninsula Boulevard in Nassau County to Brookville Boulevard in Queens.

Cleanup crews from Island Pump & Tank suctioned spilled fuel from the roadway into their tanks and applied a white foam to areas of the spill. Workers said the foam is a nontoxic flame retardant and was being applied quickly as a precaution to reduce the risk of ignition from potential fire hazards, including cigarettes from civilians.

Firefighters on top of the truck drilled holes into the tank to remove the remaining gasoline. Nassau County Chief Fire Marshal Michael Uttaro said firefighters stopped the flow of gasoline using a device that expands inside the opening, sealing it and reducing the leak to a trickle. Once the gasoline is removed, the tanker can be taken away.

“We're drilling the last hole,” Uttaro said at about 5:30 p.m. “It's a very delicate and long process because obviously gasoline is very easy to ignite.”

The spill also reached storm drains leading toward Jamaica Bay, Uttaro said. Cleanup crews created dirt mounds around the drains to prevent additional gasoline from entering the water.

Gasoline that reaches the waterway generally remains on the surface and can evaporate or burn off in sunlight, Uttaro said. The Coast Guard and DEC were monitoring the waterway.

Uttaro said the foam helps separate the fuel from the air and suppresses gasoline vapors. Because of the heat, crews had to reapply it about every 20 minutes.

“That's why you have 30 fire departments here. So they put dozens of gallons of foam,” he said.

The chief said the road could not safely be reopened while gasoline remained on the roadway and vapors lingered in the area.

“No injuries, but it's a long, long process, and this is a terrible road to have to shut down,” Uttaro said. “There is no safe way to allow people to pass this because all we need is something as simple as a spark.”

Uttaro said officials hoped to reopen the roadway by 7 p.m., though the cleanup and removal process remained ongoing.

Newsday's John Valenti contributed to this story.