A major crash involving two trucks and a stationary roadworks vehicle on Wednesday, August 7, resulted in one of the trucks on fire in bushland beside the road and the other rolled over on the M1.
The incident happened at about 10.30pm northbound just before the Mandalong Rd interchange at Morisset, causing extensive delays and necessitating a large-scale emergency response overnight on Wednesday, August 7.
Fire crews were confronted with a serious unfolding situation where a B-double truck had collided with another vehicle and ended up in the bush with the prime mover alight, causing a significant fire.
The trailer of a truck had rolled on the motorway and there were concerns about the contents of the trailer with the risk of a dust explosion but firefighters used hose stream techniques to reduce that risk.
The application of CAFS (compressed air and foam system) was also used to extinguish the fire and to reduce further risk of the fire spreading into the surrounding bush.
Firefighters had managed to control the fire by about 11.30pm and it was fully extinguished just after midnight.
The motorway had been closed since the crash and traffic was banked up to the Sparks Rd interchange which was eventually closed at about 11.30pm to prevent more vehicles from entering the blocked motorway.
Vehicles were being diverted along the Link Rd through Doyalson and along Wyee Rd.
A 30-year-old male truck driver suffered facial lacerations, back pain and other injuries and was taken by ambulance to John Hunter Hospital for further assessment and treatment.
The driver of the second truck had no reported injuries.
The incident was declared a hazmat situation in the early hours of Thursday morning as diesel leaks on the tanker were being assessed.
Salvage operations continued into the early hours and Transport for NSW took over the site recovery operations.
Firefighters finished their work at the site at about 2am but the motorway was still closed for vehicle recovery.
The M1 finally reopened fully to traffic at 6:15am on Thursday, August 8.
The burnt-out truck was still in the bushes to be salvaged later.
Northbound traffic between Doyalson Link Rd and Mandalong Rd was diverted on Thursday night from 8pm to 2am while the burnt-out truck was removed.
Sue Murray