A routine call about a mystery liquid on an Ohio interstate ended with firefighters tracking a bright red trail straight to a truck stop. The substance turned out to be Frank’s RedHot, and a lot of it: a semi-truck had been leaking 40,000 pounds of the famous hot sauce onto the road.
The leak reportedly began on Thursday while the truck was heading north on Interstate 71 in Delaware County. The vehicle left a stripe of sauce behind it until the driver finally noticed the problem and pulled off the highway.
Following the trail
Fire crews were sent to find the leak, and the red streak on the concrete led them all the way to a Pilot truck stop, where the driver had parked.
"Our crews were out on the highway trying to track it down and actually were able to follow the trail to the Pilot," said Chris Kovach, fire chief for Berkshire, Sunbury, Trenton and Galena.
The local BSTG Fire District shared photos on Facebook showing the spilled sauce and the vivid line running into the rows of parked trucks. Its post said the job is one "where you never know what you’re going to encounter."
Keeping it out of the drains
The funny side of the story did not hide the practical headache. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency was told about the spill, and crews set up containment pools and used hazmat materials to stop the acidic sauce from reaching drains.
Kovach said the trucking company will have to arrange a proper cleanup. He also warned that other drivers may have suffered damage, because the sauce was sprayed and smeared across the lanes.
"A lot of people were shocked, and obviously they see a humorous side of it, but on the flip side of that is, there are some cars, a lot of vehicles that may have potentially been damaged," Kovach said. "My understanding is this is very hard to clean off."
Drivers react
Online, reactions ranged from amused to angry. One woman wrote that she had spent $30 on car washes, yet a stain was still visible on her vehicle. Another user said they had reported the truck, fearing the liquid was slippery hydraulic fluid. "If I knew it was Franks I would have grabbed a bucket!!" the person joked.
Some people felt sympathy for the driver. One commenter said the spill looked "like a river flowing out of that trailer."
Where things stand
The Ohio State Highway Patrol has the power to issue a citation to the trucking company, but it has not done so yet, and it is unclear whether it will. According to Lieutenant Robert Curry, drivers affected by the leak can seek compensation through their own insurance companies.
For now, the cleanup is in the hands of the trucking company, and the story of the hot sauce highway is likely to be remembered around Delaware County for a while.
Image credit: BSTG Fire District
Source: The Mirror US
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