An emergency worker prepares to spray fire suppressant around a Petro-Canada fuel truck that rolled on the corner of Range Lake Road and Woolgar Avenue Friday morning. A witness said the driver was making a right turn at Woolgar when it rolled onto its side. - Randi Beers/NNSL photo

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
RCMP is investigating why a Petro-Canada driver rolled his diesel truck at the corner of Range Lake Road and Woolgar Avenue Friday morning.

The rollover, which happened just before nine a.m. in a school zone adjacent to St. Joseph Catholic School, brought several emergency vehicles and onlookers to the scene.

An RCMP officer went to the school to talk to administration and other officers were talking to onlookers around the scene but emergency crews did not order any evacuations.

St. Joe's principal Gillian Dawe-Taylor said the accident did not involve the school in any way and children were kept inside, not as a precaution, but so they wouldn't interfer.

"We just don't want 580 children pressed against the fence watching fire crews work on a truck," she explained.

Lee Sacrey works at G L Services and said he saw the whole thing happen.

"He was just coming towards Woolgar down Range Lake Road and his tire must have clipped the curb as he took a right turn," he said.

"And the weight of the fuel must have caused it to tip onto his side."

Sacrey said the driver and passenger climbed out of the driver's-side door of the vehicle and they appeared to be shocked when they emerged.

"They climbed out of the truck and we yelled at them to get away because fuel was leaking," he said.

"And that was just before we got yelled at by emergency crews to get back because we were too close."

Fire chief Darcy Hernblad said the truck's driver and passenger were taken to Stanton Territorial Hospital by ambulance.

"They were transported with suspected back and neck injuries, more of a precaution due to the fact it was a rollover," he said.

Hernblad said the truck had 9,000 to 11,000 liters of diesel fuel on board when it rolled over, and roughly 50 liters spilled onto the road.

"There is always a danger when a fuel truck is on its side," explained Hernblad.

"Diesel is a flammable liquid, the ignition temp is very low, lower than gasoline."

He said fire crews were able to quickly mitigate the danger by spraying fire suppressant around the truck.

According to Hernblatt, an empty Petro-Canada truck arrived on scene and crews pumped the remaining diesel from the rolled truck into the empty one and a towing company towed the truck away. After that, the scene became the responsibility of KBL Environmental for cleanup.

Petro-Canada declined to comment on the accident.