04/01/2026
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
March 31st, 2026
This afternoon, at 12:29 PM, the Wooster Fire Department (WFD) was dispatched to a report of a log truck overturned on Highway 25 in between Keathley Drive and Auburn Hills Drive south of Wooster.
Personnel manning two WFD apparatus responded to the scene along with personnel from Pafford Medical Services, Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office, the Arkansas State Police, and the Faulkner County Office of Emergency Management (OEM).
Emergency personnel arrived on-scene to find a log truck on its driver’s-side in the middle of Highway 25. Most of the logs had spilled out onto the northbound lane and into the ditch to the east of the highway. No other vehicles were involved. The highway was impassable and closed for both lanes of traffic.
The truck’s fuel tank was ruptured and spilled out no more than 100 gallons of diesel fuel onto the highway and into the ditch. This constituted a hazardous materials incident in addition to the wreck and logging debris.
Given the size of the overturned rig, multiple heavy tow vehicles were requested from JT Recovery & Towing. With it also being a hazmat spill, cleanup crews and equipment from Cowboy’s Enterprise Inc. were also called to the scene.
Over the next several hours, crews worked to unload the remaining logs from the truck’s trailer, pull the truck upright, secure the truck for towing, load all of the logs into another log truck, and begin the hazmat cleanup.
Since the soil to the east side of the highway was contaminated with diesel fuel, it had to be dug up and removed. Before any digging could begin, an emergency call to Arkansas One Call had to be made and notify all possibly-affected utilities. Personnel from a half dozen utility companies had to respond to the scene and verify that their respective utility lines were not located where the excavation had to be done.
While partially reopening the highway for single-lane travel, crews worked to cleanup all of the fuel-contaminated dirt and debris from the scene and load for transport.
The last cleanup crews cleared the scene around 6:15 PM this evening for a total incident time of nearly six hours. We apologize for the disruption in everyone’s travel this afternoon but it was unavoidable given the size, complexity, and potential environmental impact of this incident.
We greatly appreciate the hard work from the personnel from all of the agencies and businesses that worked to mitigate this incident. We appreciate the public’s understanding despite the inconvenience.
Thank you.
