Tanker carrying ammonium nitrate overturns in Hagerstown, businesses evacuated
BALTIMORE -- Businesses were evacuated and roads were closed Monday morning after a tanker carrying a potentially explosive chemical compound overturned in Hagerstown, Maryland State Police said.
Units responded around 6 a.m. to the scene at southbound I-81, north of Halfway Boulevard, where police say a tire blew on the tanker, causing it to swerve off the roadway, through the guardrail and into a wooded embankment.
The driver of the truck, a 32-year-old man from Pennsylvania, was hospitalized for his injuries, police said. The extent of his injuries was not immediately known.
Businesses within 1,500 feet of the scene were asked to evacuate before being allowed to return by 9:30 a.m., while I-81 north was reopened by 8:50 a.m.
Southbound I-81 was still partially closed as of 11:40 a.m.
Helicopter footage over the scene appears to show the overturned tanker in a wooded area on the right side of the highway.
No injuries have been reported.
Police said the tanker is carrying ammonium nitrate which, according to the National Institute of Health, is a chemical compound used to make fertilizers and explosives, and as a nutrient in producing antibiotics and yeast.
Officials said three gallons of the compound spilled onto the road.
Ammonium nitrate has caused numerous blasts over the decades, CBS News reports, like the devastating Beirut explosions in 2020, one at a Texas fertilizer plant in 2013 that killed 15 and was ruled deliberate, a North Korean railway blast that left 161 dead in 2004, and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
"Although it is not technically classified as an explosive or flammable material, under certain conditions, ammonium nitrate can present a significant explosive threat because it is an oxidizer — an oxygen-rich compound that can accelerate fires or explosions," according to a fact sheet by the National Fire Protection Association.
It was not immediately clear whether fire conditions were present at the scene of the crash.
