Allied Responds to Spill of KISS and Motley Crue Pyrotechnics

Allied responded to a spill incident on August 5, 2012 involving a tractor trailer carrying pyrotechnics materials and gear for the rock bands KISS and Motley Crue.  The semi was traveling on I-75 near Cridersville enroute to a concert in Detroit, MI.  Fortunately, the pyro materials were not damaged or ruptured and only a small quantity of diesel fuel was released.

The story below is from  The Lima News, By SARAH STEMEN 419-993-2101 sstemen@limanews.com

CRIDERSVILLE, OH — When the popular band Kiss wrote the song “Detroit Rock City,” they probably didn’t have in mind what would happen on their way to the Motor City on Wednesday morning.

Around 8:20 a.m., the Mötley Crüe and Kiss pyrotechnic and equipment tractor-trailer overturned in the northbound lanes of Interstate 75 just south of the Cridersville exit, forcing the bands to postpone their Wednesday night concert until tonight.

The driver of the trailer, Charles E. Lamb Jr, 40, of Texas, was taken to Lima Memorial Health System where he was treated, then released, said Sgt. Kristina Bennett of the Wapakoneta post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol. There were no band members on the trailer, she said.

Cridersville Police Chief John Drake said the equipment trailer contained pyrotechnics as well as show and stage equipment. The bands were traveling from Nashville, Tenn., to Detroit to do a show Wednesday evening, he said.

Troy Anderson, director of emergency management for Auglaize County, said the situation was not very hazardous because most of the pyrotechnics remained packaged and secured during the rollover.

“They were packaged securely, so not really a hazard,” Anderson said. “The only real hazard that we had was we had the diesel fuel leakage but other than that the fire department and everybody did exactly what they were trained to do and handled the pyrotechnics and equipment perfectly.”

Anderson said the stage crew themselves were the ones to load most of the equipment back onto a separate trailer. He said even most of the crew was not sure how much damage was done and probably wouldn’t be until everything was set up in Detroit.

“They told us a lot of it was damaged, they weren’t sure how much. At one point somebody said 50 to 70 percent. But I’m not an electronic specialist,” Anderson said. “They did package it into a trailer and they were going to send it on up to Detroit.”

Bennett said Lamb was reaching for his drink when he went off the left side of the roadway and lost control of the tractor-trailer, causing it to crash.

The northbound lanes of traffic on I-75 were closed for about a mile and half, Bennett said, and opened again shortly before noon.