Tanker rollover closes Highway 70 north of Marysville for hours

A tanker carrying ethanol on Highway 70 rolled onto its side Monday morning after rear-ending a pickup that burst into flames.

Highway 70 was closed about six miles north of Marysville for more than 13 hours as emergency personnel attempted to pull the tanker out of a ditch and extinguish the pickup fire.

The 38-year-old male driving the pickup was taken to Rideout Memorial Hospital with minor injuries, California Highway Patrol Sgt. Michael McCarthy said, but the tanker driver was unharmed.

The tanker's engine caught on fire, McCarthy said. However, the driver was able to quickly put out the flames with a fire extinguisher.

The pickup was destroyed after the driver escaped.

Authorities said the tanker struck the pickup about 6:20 a.m., when the pickup driver stopped to make a left turn. The pickup rolled to the side of the road and caught fire.

The tanker continued to move along the right shoulder before it toppled. A weak gravel shoulder and a top-heavy tanker lead to the roll over, CHP said.

"He was probably almost stopped when he rolled," McCarthy said.

Alcohol or drugs were not a factor in the crash, he said.

A detour was put in place south of Oroville at East Gridley Road to Highway 99 as cleanup crews worked on the scene throughout the day.

Electricity and gas were shut off in the area, but only two homes were affected by the outages, McCarthy said.

Environmental teams began to transfer the ethanol to another tanker about 5 p.m., and authorities estimated that roads wouldn't be open for several more hours.