Truck hits post at Santa Rosa motel, spilling 50 gallons of fuel

Firefighters and city street crews contained a 50-gallon diesel fuel spill from a ruptured tank on a semi-trailer truck Wednesday afternoon at a motel on Mendocino Avenue in Santa Rosa, a fire official said.

Responders, including the fire department’s hazardous materials team, contained the spilled fuel and prevented it from reaching the storm drain, then pumped most of it by hand into containers, Assistant Fire Marshal Paul Lowenthal said. Absorbent was used to mop up the remaining fuel.

The spill occurred about 2:15 p.m. when the truck, backing into the parking lot of the North Bay Inn at 1875 Mendocino Ave., struck a low metal post at the edge of a lawn and ruptured one of the vehicle’s saddle tanks, Lowenthal said.

The city will seek recovery of the cleanup operation’s costs from the truck owner, Roadstar Trucking of Hayward, Lowenthal said.

The cleanup took about two hours, and the southbound curb lane of Mendocino Avenue was closed during the operation.

--Guy Kovner