Earlier this month, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) tackled a truck fire on a West Texas highway that involved radioactive material, a situation fraught with potential danger, as reported by CBS Austin. According to a DPS press release, on July 19 around 7:45 p.m., DPS's Radiation/Nuclear Detection Unit and other local agencies were summoned to respond to the incident on State Highway 329 northwest of Rankin where the trailer was transporting UN3332, a substance containing Cesium-137 which is known to be a significant health hazard if released into the environment.
The urgency of the situation prompted the authorities to immediately shut down the road to assess the crisis, during which troopers outfitted with vehicle detection systems screened the vicinity for radiation and welcomed the fortunate news that the readings came back clear, then something unusual happened ─ the protocols in place which would normally dictate a more conservative approach gave way to handheld equipment swiftly checking first responders for contamination. The truck, although burned, was eventually deemed secured and the area declared safe, enabling the company to reclaim their material and transport it back to their facility, the road thereafter reopened to traffic around 11 p.m. that very same night, as noted by DPS on Facebook.
Rankin, the site of the accident, is stationed quite a distance from major urban centers, about 300 miles west of Austin and some 55 miles south of the nearest large city of Midland but this distance did not seem to diminish the response time, illustrating that Texas takes threats involving radioactive materials with grave seriousness no matter the location in its vast domain.
