Acid tanker crashes near Thatcher

By Jon Johnson
Assistant Editor
Published on Wednesday, October 29, 2008 9:34 AM MST

A CTI acid tanker ran through the stop sign at Norton Road and Reay Lane T-intersection early Tuesday morning and crashed head-on into a berm east of Reay Lane.

Graham County Sheriff Frank Hughes said his department received the call at about 3:41 a.m. A special tow truck with an extension boom had to be brought from Phoenix to remove the vehicle from the ditch.

“They need the extension boom to lift the trailer up to get it out,” he said.

A CTI acid tanker sits where it crashed after going through the intersection at Norton Road and Reay Lane early Tuesday morning. Photo by Jon Johnson

The driver, Milton Hicks, 48, was treated for his injuries at the Mount Graham Regional Medical Center and released.

According to CTI Vice President Shandy Copening, the tanker was hauling sulfuric acid for Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.’s Safford Dos Pobres Mine.

He said the acid remained contained and there was no threat to the community. He added that CTI sent out a team to make sure the recovery of the tanker went smoothly.

“Our team is out there working diligently to ensure the safety of everyone,” Copening said.

Firefighters from the Thatcher Fire Department noted “a little” spillage of acid from the tanker.

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Comments

9 comment(s)

concerned wrote on Nov 9, 2008 9:21 PM:

" I live on Norton Road, and I call the Sheriffis dept. at least 100 times a month to complain about the speeding ACID trucks running up and down this road. PJ you better give out some tickets and control this because you have no idea what sulphuric acid can do, but we don't want them in our neighborhood, and Supervisors you better start listening too. "

Dejavu wrote on Nov 2, 2008 11:47 PM:

" To: wow.it's. all.coming.back.to.me. I'm glad that you are ok. I only knew two of the boys in that accident. Tony and Scotty (my nephew). It was a miracle that someone was not killed. I am so thankful that you are all alive and well. It was a very trying time for all families involved. I still feel that something needs to be done with that intersection. "

outlaws wrote on Oct 30, 2008 8:08 PM:

" you remember ! taken the law into your own hands ,I live on norton and im tired of the tankers dont get me wrong some of them actually drive slow . cti not one of them ,lets see what happens next what a child crossing the street and gets killed i can allready see it a slap on the wrist , what good is a sheriff if the voice of the community isnt heard! "

wow.its.all.coming.back.to.me wrote on Oct 30, 2008 7:59 PM:

" that was the most pain and the scariest thing ive ever had to go threw when we hit that canal in the same place dont know why the good lord let us live but im glad he did. to dejavu thanks for the spark in the memory "

Dejavu wrote on Oct 29, 2008 10:20 PM:

" This is the same exact place where there was a terrible accident a few years ago involving several young men and two young women. There were very serious injuries and three of them had to be air lifted to Tucson. This man was very lucky. I'm glad he came out of it ok. Maybe the town of Thatcher (or county)needs to look into putting up a bigger reflector at the berm so people can see it better. There is a good chance that this will happen again with all the traffic to the mine. "

I know 2 wrote on Oct 29, 2008 10:09 PM:

" I used to drive an acid tanker. Keith Canale is right, we ran long and hard, but also I bet he was speeding. Big trucks speed on Norton road ALL of the time. If Rueben the DPS officer from Globe was scouting that road he would have all of the CTI trucks red tagged!!!! "

Keith Canale wrote on Oct 29, 2008 6:35 PM:

" I used to drive an acid tanker. These guys run long and hard.........bet he fell asleep. "

PimaTwo wrote on Oct 29, 2008 6:31 PM:

" What happened to all the other comments from earlier Wed. morning? Hey Bleed Green did you miss the Last paragraph? I gues if it's contained it's not really a spill. My ERT Traning says it is if it is not inside the tank for any reason. Who is correct? "

Bleed Green wrote on Oct 29, 2008 4:02 PM:

" Glad everything worked out on nthis horrific accident. This was about a 15 hour incident and nobody was injured and no accid was spilled. Good Job to our local authorities! "

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