The Mt. Olive Township Emergency Services got an early start on Christmas Eve around 3:30 a.m. the calls came in for a multi car accident with several injuries at the 25.0 mile marker west bound on Rt. 80. Car 50 and 51 arrived and started to check the damage, the big one was a tractor trailer that struck the bridge as it dragged a car under the rear of the trailer and then spun around and destroyed the truck’s trailer breaking open the saddle tank spilling 100 gal. of diesel fuel all over the road. There were seven more cars and another tractor trailer crashed in the quarter mile accident scene. Squad 56 secured all the cars and attempted to contain the fuel spill as four ambulances two from Budd Lake and two from Flanders transported seven people to area hospitals with minor injuries. The Morris County Haz-Mat team responded and had a cleanup company come out to clean up the fuel spill. NJ State Police reopened the road just after 7:00 am after the NJDOT sanded and salted the highway.
Photos By Kevin Maloney / Willie Cirone
