Debris removal following semi crash into Mirror Lake suspended until ice melts

March 08-- Mar. 8--Work has been suspended on frozen Mirror Lake in the cleanup effort following a deadly semi crash in February, with crews already finding and recovering adhesive-filled barrels, industrial tubing and parts of the cab and trailer.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources said work to remove the remaining materials, including 100,000 lead battery terminals, will resume once ice is off the lake.

Truck driver Timothy Green, 39, and passenger Devenna Patterson, 24, both of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, were killed when the semi went through a guard rail on Feb. 17 on an Interstate 90/94 bridge spanning the lake, the truck dropping about 100 feet before crashing through the ice.

Green's body was found inside the cab, but Patterson's body wasn't found until the next day.

Crews hired by the insurance company for trucking firm Service Plus Transport have so far recovered 23 out of 24 sealed and intact metal drums and other material, but the lead battery terminals and the last drum haven't been found.

The crews, including SCS Engineers of Madison, Steve's Ice Water Recovery of Reedsburg, Clean Harbor Environmental Services of Germantown and J.F. Brennan Co. of La Crosse, have been working through holes cut into the ice.

"Visibility in this area (of the lake) is poor, due to a soft lake bottom, so we have not been able to recover the battery terminals that we are told were on the truck at the time of the accident," said Michael Schmoller, a regional spills coordinator with the DNR.

He said the lead in the terminals would dissolve over time, but should not have an impact in the short term.

"It's basically non-toxic stuff," Schmoller told the Baraboo News-Republic.

Crews also put an oil-absorbent boom on the ice around the crash site to catch fuel and engine fluids from the truck as the ice melts.

Contractors will identify dredging options to find the missing cargo in spring, the DNR said.

"The best news to come from this recovery so far is that none of the drums showed signs of leakage, so we aren't currently looking at an even larger environmental impact," Schmoller said.

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