A truck spilled three inches of fish product on a Kennebunk highway overpass Thursday morning, creating a stinky situation for town crews that had to scrape the frozen mess off the street during the morning commute.

Sometime around 6 a.m., a truck that got off the northbound Maine Turnpike exit in Kennebunk turned onto Alfred Road and, while crossing the overpass, spilled some type of fish product on the road. With temperatures in the single digits, the fish product quickly froze, according to the town’s fire chief.

“A lot of the contents they were carrying slopped out onto the street and caused three inches of frozen mess,” Fire Chief Jeff Rowe said. “The neighborhood has a definite fish odor.”

Kennebunk Public Services crews scraped the fish product off the road, then put down sand and salt to alleviate slipping. They managed to get the area cleaned up within a couple hours without causing delays during the morning commute, Rowe said.

Rowe said the town is investigating how the fish product was spilled and by what truck. They are reviewing turnpike video footage to try to identify the truck, which did not stop or notify emergency officials of the spill.

Deputy Police Chief Micheal Nugent said his department has been in contact with Maine State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement as part of the investigation. The person responsible for the vehicle that spilled the load could face charges, he said.

“I think we’ll be able to identify the folks who are responsible,” Nugent said.

The town notified the Department of Environmental Protection of the spill.


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