A tanker truck carrying thousands of gallons of sewage crashed in Acton, Massachusetts, Saturday, spilling hundreds of gallons into the roadway, which took crews hours to clean up.
The Wind River Environmental LLC sewage tanker overturned around 5:30 p.m. at an industrial area on 54 Knox Trail.
The driver was able to get out of the vehicle under his own power and was not injured.
Firefighters on scene were applauding the driver's actions on the fly to stop a bad situation from getting worse. He cut a piece from a tree to fit into a one-inch pipe -- so instead of 5,000 gallons spilling, they estimate it to be about 500.
"Luckily, it went down catch basin. They were able to clean it up with their other tank truck and vacuum it out of there," said Acton Fire Capt. Jim Byrne. "We also made a phone call with DEP following their guidelines with the cleanup."
There was no damage to property, but the truck is badly damaged.
The crash is still under investigation. Police believe speed may have been a factor.
