Trucks hauling hazardous materials use the truck stop off Interstate-95 in Milford. Peter Casolino/Register file photo

At any time of the day or night, trucks carrying thousands of gallons of flammable, explosive, poisonous or corrosive chemicals may be traveling Connecticut interstates. No state agency even attempts to monitor the hazardous traffic, transportation, environmental and homeland security officials said.

Despite heightened concerns about huge quantities of dangerous chemicals falling into the hands of terrorists, the state departments apparently do not know where to obtain information about chemical shipments on highways.

That leaves practically the full onus for disaster planning, training and remedial action to local fire departments, which must often engage in hurried detective work to determine the contents of a leaking or flaming truck.

A wrong answer could turn an accident into a catastrophe because certain commonly used chemicals react violently with water.

So no one could have predicted that a crashed tanker truck near the junctions of Interstates 91 and 95 would be leaking 5,000 gallons of styrene into catch basins, soil and a drain pipe off Long Wharf Drive on the morning of Sept. 5.

Styrene, which is used in large amounts to make plastics, is flammable and has explosive vapors. Under the worst conditions, the chemical could have ignited flammable materials 1,000 feet down wind of the crash, according to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration.

The New Haven Fire Department, which has an effective hazard-response plan, applied foam to prevent a fire.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration keeps detailed records of crashes involving trucks carrying hazardous materials.

FMCSA data shows that between 2001 and 2004, there was an average of 24 fatal accidents per year involving trucks carrying hazardous materials in Connecticut. All but two of the trucks did not carry the required hazardous materials placards, which help firefighters determine what material is on board.

Between 2001 and 2005 in Connecticut, there were 5,192 non-fatal truck crashes involving hazardous materials, for an average of 1,038 a year. Placards were missing in 4,081 of the accidents.

Hazardous chemicals were released in 32 accidents in 2005. Two of the crashes involved fatalities.

Over the four-year period, state crashes in which chemicals were released increased from seven in 2001 to 36 in 2004. Figures for 2005 were not available.

While there now is no practical method to identify the contents of each tanker and trailer, Connecticut agencies know neither the average tonnage nor types of chemicals on its highways.

Recent national data are not readily available.

The last national figures contained in a 1998 U.S. Department of Transportation report are based on even older federal data. The DOT estimated that 3.9 billion tons of hazardous materials were moved annually in about 800,000 daily shipments, 94 percent of which were carried by trucks.

These figures suggest that a substantial tonnage of chemicals is transported through Connecticut on highways. The questions are, what kinds and how much?

Judd Everhart, a spokesman for Gov. M. Jodi Rell, said state agencies and the governor are taking all practical safety precautions. "At Gov. Rell’s direction, there is extensive screening for drivers and trucks in Connecticut, and the (Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security) in coordination with other state agencies, has organized training and drills to respond to hazmat incidents and threats," he said.

Everhart said, "The bottom line is that Gov. Rell believes that everything that can be done to reduce risk is being done. This is a process of constant revaluation and continuous improvement."

Everhart said state records show only 57 incidents with "hazmat" materials in the past two years on Connecticut highways.

However, according to the U.S. Fatality Analysis Reporting System and Motor Carrier Management Information System, Connecticut had 1,226 non-fatal crashes involving large trucks and hazardous materials in 2005 and 1,039 in 2004. There were 27 fatal accidents involving trucks containing hazardous materials in 2004. Data is not available for 2005.

Spokesmen for the environment, transportation and homeland security departments said they did not know where to obtain the information, or erroneously identified each other as keepers of these data.

"Our department does not have a sense of what comes through Connecticut," said Mark DeCaprio, division director of the state Department of Environmental Protection Emergency Response and Spill Prevention Division.

DeCaprio is also on the Emergency Response Commission, which commissioned a survey of chemical traffic in New Haven last year.

Tom Burke, engineer in the DEP Bureau of Materials Management and Compliance Assurance, said the DEP only tracks hazardous chemical waste, which makes up a small fraction of the dangerous chemicals transported on highways.

Burke said the state DOT regulates transportation of raw chemical products. However, Kevin Nursick, DOT spokesman, said, "The Connecticut DOT has no involvement with the transportation of hazardous materials, or knowing when the materials are coming and going."

Officials disagree on the usefulness of general statistics on chemical traffic.

"It would be nice to know, and it would certainly help us. The more information we have the better," said New Haven Fire Chief Michael Grant. "Getting a handle on that is very difficult."

The State Emergency Response Commission surveyed chemical traffic in New Haven last year, revealing that 30 to 80 trucks carrying hazardous material placards passed observers during half-hour periods between July 12 and 13, 2005.

This means that a vehicle with hazardous chemicals passed checkpoints every one to 2.5 minutes on the interstates and Routes 1, 5, 10, 34 and 337 (Townsend Avenue).

Three-quarters of the trucks carried flammable or combustible liquids. Many were loaded with gasoline, heating oil and other petroleum products.

One out of 10 trucks bore flammable or toxic gases; one out of 100 contained explosives and another one-tenth were loaded with miscellaneous hazardous materials.

A bulk of the shipments used Interstates 91 or 95, the survey shows. Of hazardous material traffic on I-91, 80 percent of the cargo was flammable liquids. The same flammable liquids, mostly gasoline, comprised 56 percent of the chemical-carrying traffic on I-95.

The New Haven survey suggests that more extensive observations could characterize the chemical traffic on Connecticut’s major highways, Grant said.

Wayne Sanford, deputy commissioner of the state Department of Emergency Services and Homeland Security, said his department does not attempt to gather data on the types and volume of chemicals on Connecticut roads.

"I don’t know what we’d do with that information. It’s more important to train the first responders," he said.

Sanford said there are some national initiatives to track shipments of explosive or poisonous chemicals. "Right now there’s no way a carrier will tell us, ‘We’re carrying 10 tons of chlorine,’" he said.

Some trucks are already monitored by global-positioning systems and more carriers will follow, Sanford said.

"As we move forward, you’ll see tracking of shipments. We will need a response capability as well," he said.`

Meanwhile, the only way that first responders or anyone else can tell what’s on board a truck is by one of about 65 different placards and thousands of codes issued by the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

Gasoline tankers, for example, carry a "flammable" placard and a code. Every chemical-carrying truck must also carry shipping documents listing the name and code number of the material being carried.

Code numbers exist for thousands of chemicals, including TNT, nerve gas, rocket fuel, radioactive materials, pesticides, nitroglycerin (desensitized), fissile radioactive material and more mundane but still hazardous compounds used to make everything from dyes to shampoo to wood preservatives and plastics.

Grant said firefighters must identify the contents of a truck before taking any action. If the placard is missing or not visible, they attempt to retrieve the shipping documents. If a vehicle is burning and unapproachable and lacking a placard, firefighters must trace a company name on the truck, or a serial number or license plate to trace the wreck back to the carrier.

Abram Katz can be reached at akatz@nhregister.com or 789-5719.

©New Haven Register 2006