The Colfax Police Department is looking for the driver of a semi who apparently spilled about 80 gallons of diesel on State Route 26.
Authorities were alerted to the spill near the junction of SR26 and U.S. Highway 195 Tuesday morning. Colfax Police Chief Bruce Blood says the spill starts near two flatbed trailers that are parked off the highway. Chief Blood believes the driver of the big rig punctured a fuel tank on the asphalt when he was trying to pull off the highway overnight. The trailers are empty but it looks like they were hauling hay.
The fuel spilled into a ditch near the Palouse River. Chief Blood says the fuel hasn’t reached the river. A Washington State Department of Ecology spill response team is heading to Colfax to clean up the diesel.