VIDEO: Tanker Truck Burns In Massive Fire After Anderson Co. Wreck

Flames and black smoke billowed from a tanker truck that caught fire after a crash in Anderson County.

The South Carolina Highway Patrol reported the accident on Shady Grove Road near Holiday Dam Road at 10:23 a.m.

Anderson Fire Chief Billy Gibson Anderson County says the truck hit an electric pole which brought down a power line which created an arc.

That caught the gasoline tanker on fire.

The driver, 46-year-old Jose Emilo Calderon of Easley, was removed from the truck and taken by ambulance to the hospital.

AnMed officials say he was treated and released.  He has been charged with driving too fast for conditions.

Anderson County officials say shady Grove Road was blocked but no evacuations were ordered as a result of the fire.

Duke Energy says 179 customers are without power because of the accident.  

Air 7 was first on the scene and shot extensive video of the fire. 7 On Your Side also spoke with eyewitnesses.

The fire was growing quickly. David Black knew he didn't have much time. Black says, "I heard the explosion and immediately saw it. By the time I heard the explosion, it was burning."

Black hopped off his tractor and went to help a tanker truck driver. He says, "I would say the truck had been burning 4-5 minutes. I was going to go ahead and try to get him out, everybody was hollering at me, and about that time he fell out..and i grabbed him and brought him back down to the side of the road."    

Black didn't know what was on fire inside the tanker and neither did fire crews at first.

Friendship Fire Chief Brian Moon says,  "The placard had already been burned up in the fire." That made it impossible to tell what was inside the tanker until fire crews talked to the driver discovering about 9,000 gallons of gasoline were in the tanker. Moon says, "Our training tells us to go with the worst case scenario. If we were not able to get some type of information, we would have just staged off scene and just let it burn up."

Using a foam suppression truck, crews say they got the fire out in 10 to 15 minutes. The Highway Patrol says the driver of the tanker truck, Jose Calderon with O'Dell Oil Company, was charged with driving too fast for conditions.

Residents say drivers speed down they Shady Grove Road all the time. LeeAnn Keasler says, “It's not monitored enough by Highway Patrol and the county. There's a lot of people that go pretty fast down this road…The little ridges that are in the road can actually knock you out of the road.”

The South Carolina Department of Transportation and the Highway Patrol tell 7 On Your Side they will look into residents' concerns.

Black is just glad he was there, not thinking about what was inside the tanker, just knowing he had to help Calderon. Black says, "I was gonna run that risk. I couldn't stand by and see him (Calderon) get burnt up."

About 80 firefighters responded to the accident. Anderson County Emergency Management tells 7 On Your Side there have been 3 tanker truck accidents in the last 6 months within a ten mile radius of Tuesday’s accident. Many of you told us you want increased police patrols in this area. Highway Patrol says give them a call at 864-241-1000 to request patrols. And some of you said there are bumps and other problems on Shady Grove Road. To report those problems, you can contact the Department of Transportation by clicking here.