Man found dead on Tooele trucking company grounds
Jun 5, 2024, 9:05 PM | Updated: 10:48 pm
LAKE POINT, Tooele County — One man was found dead on the grounds of a trucking company in Tooele County Wednesday, according to North Tooele Fire District.
The fire department says it became an “all hands on deck moment” because the trucking business deals with volatile chemicals, and because of the uncertainty of what caused the employee to die.
One man was found dead on the grounds of a Tooele trucking company in an industrial area. Emergency crews did not know the cause of his death when he was found on Wednesday, June, 5, 2024. (Chopper 5, KSL TV)
North Tooele Fire public information officer Jon Smith said a person called 911 to report finding a family member deceased on the ground and that the caller started CPR.
He said Utah Highway Patrol arrived at TDC trucking company and took over life-saving measures, but the person could not be revived.
“The nature of the fatality is still under investigation. It is potentially a hazmat situation just because of all the chemicals surrounding the site where the incident occurred,” Smith said.
They called in several agencies, Smith saying they were “treating it as a worst possible scenario,” as he described how the business takes various chemicals from train cars, converts the chemicals into a different form, and transports them back out on train cars.
The business also sits near the state Route201 and Interstate 80 junctures.
“Anytime you’re dealing with a volatile chemical, you don’t know whether it’s solid, gas, liquid. You don’t know if it’s combustible, not combustible,” Smith said. “And we’re dealing with a lot of dry vegetation, on a very hot day. There could also be a potential for wildfire, if not handled appropriately.”
In addition to the North Tooele Fire District, Smith said the Unified Fire hazmat team, Tooele Army Depot hazmat team, Tooele County Emergency Management, Utah Highway Patrol, Mountain West Ambulance, and Tooele County Sheriff’s Office all responded.
Once the scene was secured and deemed safe, the agencies were cleared and left later in the evening.
The nature of the employee’s death was unknown as of Wednesday night, but the emergency call made originally reported cardiac arrest.
Smith said there was no danger to the public.
Contributing: Mary Culbertson
