SALEM TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A paint truck crashed into a utility pole and ended up in a pond Wednesday morning at the entrance to the Hideout in Wayne County.
That crash happened just before 10 a.m. on Route 590 near Hamlin.
Crews spent all afternoon working to get that truck back on dry land and clean up the paint and fuel spilled into the water.
It has been a slow and steady process after the paint truck crashed into the pond at the entrance to The Hideout, a private community.
The owner of M. Mayo Striping tells Newswatch 16 there was 400 gallons of paint on board plus 1,500 pounds of glass beads meant for a line-painting job down the road.
"It's a big loss, a $150,000 loss," said owner Ben Gadomski. "A bad day in business."
No one was hurt and the driver was able to get out, but there was still a big job to do to clean up the paint and fuel seeping into the pond that eventually feeds into Lake Wallenpaupack.
"They're going to be here for quite a while, waiting on PPL to replace the pole. Obviously, we have the heavy-duty wreckers here to get this thing out of the water, the hazmat teams, you're looking at hours of work," said Hamlin Fire and Rescue Chief Gene Koch.
Wayne County EMA, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, PennDOT, DEP, and more all worked to clean up the mess.
That paint truck was headed downhill behind a car when troopers say it couldn't stop. It sideswiped a vehicle and tipped on its side in the pond. Now, it's a long process to clean up the mess and fix what's broken.
"When he darted, he hit the center of my truck which drove my guy, didn't want to kill anyone. He did a good job getting between the guide rail and the thing, and ended in the lake but he did a good job. No one died today. That's a plus," Gadomski said.
Once the power lines were safe, environmental crews pumped the remaining paint off the truck so wreckers could pull it free and up out of the pond.
Tom Logue lives in The Hideout and stopped to watch with his mind on what impact this will have on the pond.
"You're always concerned about the environment. You have fish in here. Who knows how long it will take to clean up and have it disappear?" said Logue.
Now that the paint truck has been taken away, there's still a cleanup effort in the water to remove the water-based paint. The owner of the paint truck says it's non-toxic.
Troopers tell Newswatch 16 the driver likely faces citations following the crash.
The general manager of The Hideout says everyone is fortunate this situation wasn't worse.
"This is a very high traffic area, there could have been a lot of damage done. People could have been killed or seriously maimed. Thank God that didn't happen and everything is good," said general manager Joe Acla.
