Wheeling firefighters spread a “spill kit” of absorbent material at a hazardous waste oil spill on the 26th Street I-470 collector in Wheeling.

WHEELING — Numerous roads in Wheeling were closed throughout Wednesday night into today along the path of a leaking truck which created a hazmat spill that morning.

Several roads were closed between a section of Peninsula Street and the 26th Street Interstate 470 collector, according to Wheeling Police Department Public Information Officer Phillip Stahl.

The driver of a Safety-Kleen Systems, Inc. tanker truck, that spilled waste oil along approximately 5 miles of roadway, has been issued two citations for having an unsecured load, one under state code, and a second under federal code, Stahl said. He was stopped by police on I-470, where the truck remained through Wednesday afternoon.

Road closures will remain in effect for the next 24 to 48 hours as multiple cleanup crews work to remove the substance that was spilled along the 5-mile stretch of roadway throughout the city of Wheeling, according to Stahl. Major areas that will be impacted include:

∫ 18th Street on-ramp to WV Route 2;

∫ 26th Street off-ramp to Center Wheeling;

∫ I-470 Westbound on-ramp;

∫ I-470 Eastbound off-ramp, coming from Ohio; and

∫ I-470 Eastbound will be down to one lane from the WV Route 2 area to the I-470 baseball fields.

The public is reminded to not drive through the posted road closed signs or barricades. Law enforcement will issue citations if signs are ignored, Stahl said.

Wheeling Police Deputy Chief Martin Kimball said the truck, what was heading south from the industrial park area in Fulton was spotted leaking some sort of “hazardous material” Wednesday morning, causing emergency officials to shut down several roads throughout the city.

Wheeling firefighters worked to spread a “spill kit” of absorbent material over the substance at the entrance to the industrial park, a section of Chapline Street and a lengthy section of the I-470 / W.Va. 2 south collector.

Wheeling Fire Chief Larry Helms said the fire department had seven company crews assigned to various areas of the city that were affected by the spill. Assistant Fire Chief Paul Harto said it appears that the waste oil leaked from the top of the tanker truck and spilled onto the roadway.

Harto said the substance appears to have puddled more where there where traffic signals and the truck was stopped for a more lengthy amount of time. He said they also protected several storm drains along several roads in the event the area experiences any rainfall before the substance is cleaned from the roads.

Ohio County Emergency Management Director Lou Vargo was on the scene to help assist the Wheeling Police and Fire Departments with any type of resources they might need to deal with the spill.

“We actually had two 911 calls, the spill out at the Peninsula, and then one down here (at the 26th Street I-470 collector),” Vargo said. It didn’t take long for emergency officials to figure out the spills were connected as part of the same incident.