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Coeymans Hollow Volunteer Fire Company

2 days ago

A few more pictures courtesy of others including the Albany County Sheriff’s Department. ... See MoreSee Less

Coeymans Hollow Volunteer Fire Company

2 days ago

More pictures from today’s call ... See MoreSee Less

Coeymans Hollow Volunteer Fire Company shared an album.

2 days ago

A serious accident involving a tractor trailer that caught fire shut down Route 32 in Coeymans Hollow Monday morning.

Crews were called to Route 32 near the Coeymans Hollow and Westerlo town line before 9 a.m. on Monday, April 22, for a motor vehicle accident involving a tractor trailer that was on fire.

A car was travelling northbound on Route 32 when it struck the tractor trailer that was travelling southbound. The tractor trailer then ended up in the ditch and burst into flames.

"Arriving units found heavy fire on the cab of the truck," said Chief Bill Kapusta of the Coeymans Hollow Fire Department. "The tractor was fully-involved and the trailer part of it was just starting to go."

The truck was hauling grocery items, making it difficult to fully-extinguish the fire. Kapusta said that items you can find in the grocery store such as things like vegetables all the way up to citronella were burning inside the trailer.

"The fire inside the truck was a little stubborn," he said. "Probably because of that citronella, so we wound up using foam, which helped a lot."

A highway crew from the Town of Coeymans responded to assist in emptying the contents of the trailer so that firefighters could extinguish the smoldering contents.

"We got an excavator in and cut the side of the truck open to remove the remaining contents that were melted and still smoldering so that we could make sure it was all out," Kapusta said.

Dumpsters were brought to the scene so the contents could be emptied into the dumpsters.

While fighting the fire, crews had to also focus their attention on leaking fuel from the truck.

"When the car hit the truck, it hit the fuel tank on it, probably causing the fire," Kapusta said.

NYS DEC and ENCON were called to the scene due to the fuel leaking from the truck.

Fire crews on scene were putting down absorbent material and booms to help prevent the fuel from spreading. West Albany and Elsmere fire departments were called for hazardous response, but were quickly cancelled.

Multiple agencies responded to the call. Fire departments on the scene included Coeymans Hollow, Westerlo, Ravena, Coeymans, Greenville and Onesquethaw. Departments on standby included Freehold, Berne and New Baltimore. Also on the scene were Ravena Rescue, Westerlo Rescue and Albany County Paramedics. Coeymans Police, Albany County Sheriff's Department and New York State Police were also on the scene.

The driver of the car did not require extrication and was transported to the hospital with traumatic injuries that do not appear life-threatening, according to Kapusta. The driver of the tractor trailer was not injured.

Kapusta said it took about 45 minutes to get the bulk of the fire knocked down. He said an environmental company will be on the scene to clean the soil from the fuel leak.

A tow truck picked up the car and multiple trucks from Robert's towing responded for the tractor trailer.

Route 32 has reopened as of 5 p.m. ... See MoreSee Less