OAKLAND PARK, FLA. (WSVN) - A fuel tanker overturned just inches from a home in an Oakland Park neighborhood, prompting an urgent response from Fire Rescue due to the highly flammable condition.

It happened in the 5300 block of North Andrews Avenue, just east of Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, Tuesday morning.

“911 caller is saying that it might be a fuel truck. She can smell the fumes,” was heard over the Broadcastify police scanner.

7News spoke to a woman, who rents a room in a house nearby, said there was a boom just after 5:30 a.m. and that’s when she realized something was wrong.

When she went outside, she said she smelled a lot of gasoline and was stunned by what she found.

“We went outside to see and it smelled like a lot of gas. There was gas spilled on the ground. I smelled it a lot. We had to evacuate,” said Lisset Pino in Spanish.

Benjamin Laguna who lived across the street from where the tanker overturned, told 7News he also heard a loud “boom.”

The tanker overturned and came to a halt next to a tree and landed directly between two corner lot homes.

“I’m so grateful, thank God I’m still alive,” said a man whose home was almost damaged by the tanker.

Ring camera video captured a garbage truck driver going in reverse to check on the driver of the overturned truck.

The driver and Laguna helped the fuel truck driver escape the leaking tanker.

“Me and the garbage truck driver helped the guy just coming down through the truck,” said the man.

7Skyforce hovered above, as multiple agencies responded to the tanker spill. Firefighters sprayed a tremendous amount of foam all over the tanker and the fuel that was spilled from the incident.

Fire officials confirm that there was a minor gas leak, but say that the tanker did not rupture, but foam was used to contain the spill.

“Our number one priority is the safety of us. Safety of the citizens and the residents and so everything kind of looks very slow, but that is done on purpose so that everything is safe and done properly without any hazards,” said Mark Vermont, Chief of Operations at Oakland Park Fire Rescue. “Luckily it didn’t rupture. If it ruptured, that’s a whole different story.”

After ensuring the fuel was secured, Oakland Park Fire Rescue announced the leak was contained but their next step was to offload the fuel from the vehicle so it can be up-righted and removed.

Fort Lauderdale and Broward County Sheriffs Office Fire Rescue and their Hazmat teams assisted in the clean up and the delicate task of removing the remaining fuel from the tanker.

“What’s going on now is an extended operation to try and move all the fuel from inside that overturned truck, put it on to another truck to safely get it out of here, so that a tow truck can clean up the scene,” said a firefighter.

“This was potentially a very dangerous situation. When you have that much fuel spilling, any spark can start a real major fire,” said Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Spokesperson Frank Guzman.

Several hours later, around 12:40 p.m., 7Skyforce provided a bird’s eye view of the moment a tow truck safely lifted up the tanker by strapping a yellow belt around the rear of the truck and attaching cables underneath the front bumper.

As the truck was towed away, cameras captured crushed trees and pieces of wood that were demolished as a result of the impact.

Officials said that the tanker was transporting 1,110 gallons of fuel and was carrying 200 gallons of its own fuel.

The truck driver was transported to a hospital for minor injuries.

The two homes where the tanker overturned were evacuated.

No other injuries were reported.

It’s unclear what led up to the incident.

Copyright 2025 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Join our Newsletter for the latest news right to your inbox