Fuel truck in military convoy overturns on Highway 1

A fuel truck travelling as part of a military convoy lost control and overturned on NWT Highway 1 on Monday night, spilling fuel.

According to a report made to the NWT’s spill line on Monday evening, the vehicle tipped on its side shortly after 8pm on the highway southeast of Kakisa.

The spill report initially stated up to 15,000 litres of fuel was suspected of leaking, the full capacity of the truck.

The report was updated on Tuesday afternoon to indicate the amount of fuel that spilled was an estimated 3,900 litres. Later in the afternoon a spokesperson for Joint Task Force Nunalivut told Cabin Radio that estimate had been revised to 2,900 litres based on how much fuel was transferred out of the truck before it was recovered.

A spokesperson for the NWT’s Department of Environment and Climate Change said on Tuesday morning that renewable resources officers were on the scene and “assessing the situation.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for Joint Task Force Nunalivut told Cabin Radio immediate action was taken to deploy spill kits in response to the slow fuel leak and the spilled fuel was contained within a berm. The spokesperson said the vehicle has since been recovered while spill response and remediation work continues.

The fuel truck was part of a convoy of military equipment and personnel headed north for Operation Nanook-Nunalivut, a winter Canadian Armed Forces training operation that takes place in different locations across the Yukon, the NWT, Nunavut and Labrador each year.

The vehicles’ planned route from Edmonton to Yellowknife included travel through Highways 43, 49, 2 and 35 in Alberta and Highways 1 and 3 in the NWT.

The convoy reached Yellowknife early on Tuesday morning.

The spokesperson for Joint Task Force Nunalivut stated NWT RCMP are leading the investigation into the accident. They said while the investigation is ongoing, icy road conditions may have been a contributing factor.

According to the statement, no injuries were reported. Medics assessed the driver and passenger at the scene, who were then taken to hospital for further evaluation as a precaution.

The spokesperson said while some military members remained in the area of the accident to help coordinate mitigation, the majority of the convoy continued on to Yellowknife and the incident is not expected to impact operations.