Truck Spills Thousands of Lithium Batteries on South Street In Dalton

Officers were called to South Street by Greenridge Park on Tuesday for reports of a truck dropping what looked like a generator into the roadway. When they got there, it turned out to be a lot bigger than that. It was a battery array containing thousands of lithium-ion batteries, headed to a solar panel field project behind the transfer station in Dalton.

Dalton Highway, Dalton Fire Department, and the Massachusetts State Police truck team all responded to help. Village Truck Sales and Sayers Auto pitched in too, working together to get the units out of the roadway safely.

Dalton PD

Driver hit curb and the straps broke!

I talked with Dalton Police Chief Deanna Strout about how it all happened. She said the truck was hauling multiple battery array units, each one packed with thousands of ion batteries. The driver was heading up South St when he realized his load wouldn't clear the railroad bridge, so he pulled into the small parking lot at Greenridge Park to turn around. In the process, he went over a curb, the load shifted, the straps broke, and the units came off the truck and into the road.

Chief Strout said the project manager estimated the loss at more than a million dollars!

Hazmat crews were standing by due to lithium-ion

The scarier part is what could have happened. Chief Strout said the batteries were not compromised, which meant crews avoided a major hazmat situation. Hazmat crews were placed on standby just in case while the State Police truck team assisted Dalton PD and fire on scene. Sayers Auto brought in a dumpster, and Village Truck Sales hoisted the battery units into it to keep everything contained.

Dalton PD