Roughly 40 Residents Evacuated After Truck Carrying Chemicals Overturns

About 40 residents in the Erie County Village of Alden have been evacuated from their homes after a tractor-trailer carrying potentially-hazardous materials overturned.

Chief Mark Pruitt with the Alden Fire Department tells 2 on Your Side the truck was heading into the Village of Alden, along Route 20, around 5:30 Sunday evening. Pruitt says the driver lost control of the vehicle, causing the truck to veer off the road and plow through Firemens Banstand Park in the center of the village. Several trees were knocked over.

Pruitt says the truck was carrying 96 45-gallon drums of isobutanol alcohol. Because the substance is highly flammable, Pruitt says a decision was made to evacuate everyone living withing a 500-foot radius of the truck. Those evacuations forced about 40 people from their homes. The evacuees were taken to the Station 1 firehall on Broadway. There's no word on when they will be allowed to return home.

Pruitt says none of the barrels are leaking, but that 8 or 9 were damaged. Crews from Optec, a chemical cleanup company, are coming in to remove the barrels from the truck. Pruitt says at this time, there is no hazard.

The driver of the truck was taken to ECMC where he's being treated for minor injuries. Authorities haven't said what, if any, charges he faces.

A towing company has been called in to remove the tractor-trailer from the park.

Alden Fire Department / wgrz-tv