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ALBANY, GA. -- Around 11:30 Thursday morning, the Albany Fire Department, Dougherty County Police, Dougherty Public Works, and the local Hazmat team converged on Radium Springs Road.

A pecan sprayer lost a tire and fell onto its side but the bigger concern was the puncture in the sprayer’s tank.

"The tank’s carrying a thousand gallons of water and stratego chemical, which is a fungicide they spray pecans with," said Albany Fire Department Battalion Chief Keith Ambrose.

The powerful chemical was leaking directly into a storm drain so authorities acted quickly to prevent any contamination of the water supply.

"The crews that first got here immediately started dyking the storm drain to keep it out of the storm drain," said Ambrose.

They were assisted by Cross Creek Pecan Company, the owner of the sprayer.

"They had workers here immediately," said Ambrose. "They were working with it. They had buckets catching whatever part of the product that was leaking out." 

The Albany Fire Department said it looked like, at most, five gallons of the pesticide actually leaked into the storm drain but they weren’t taking any chances.

"We can sand it and sweep it up, and clean out these catch basins," said Larry Cook of Dougherty County Public Works.

"There’s a lot of sand inside the storm drain so we’re hoping that that sand absorbed it," added Ambrose.