4 days ago
‘Couldn't believe he was alive': Woman rescues man from wrecked tanker with explosive chemicals
Douglas County authorities ordered the evacuation of dozens of homes early Friday morning after a tractor-trailer tanker truck carrying ammonium nitrate lost control, crashed, and tipped over on Wilson Road near Highway 5.
Carrie Jetzke, owner of West Georgia Spay Neuter Clinic, told Channel 2's Tom Regan she spotted the toppled tanker on her way to work and went to help the driver.
'I saw his head poke out of the window, and I immediately got out and asked if he was OK. He was in complete shock. He could barely sit up. He didn't physically seem to be hurt. I crawled up on the side and held onto what he could, and he was shaking. I just grabbed him from the waist, and pulled him out, and sat with him until EMS came,' Jetzke said.
Jetzke said she didn't know that the truck was carrying a chemical compound that is used both to make fertilizer and explosives.
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She said she didn't smell any vapors coming from the wrecked truck.
Neighbors nearby say deputies knocked on their doors and asked them to evacuate their homes.
A temporary evacuation center was set up at the Dog River Library on Highway 5.
Douglas County Fire and Rescue Chief Miles Allen said as a precaution, 40 to 50 homes were evacuated within a half-mile radius of the wreck.
The evacuation order was lifted around 11:30 a.m. after the damaged truck was towed away.
Jetzke said she's relieved the driver, a man in his 20s, wasn't hurt.
'He was completely OK. Just in shock,' Jetzke said.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
