A cloud of dried up pork blood exploded out of a tractor-trailer, down the bank of the Trans-Canada Highway and onto the lawn of a house below after the truck crashed in Revelstoke early Thursday evening.
The west-bound semi, which was carrying a load of powdered pig's blood, caromed off the highway and took out a hydro pole while rounding a bend between the Meadows in the Sky Parkway and Highway 23 north.
"We believe at this point the vehicle was travelling too fast for the curves and as a result lost control and went into the left-hand side ditch," said Cpl. Rod Wiebe of the Revelstoke RCMP.
The crash caused the trucks load to explode out of the trailer and blanket the embankment south of the highway, as well as the lawn of a house on Bend Road below. The powdered blood covered everything around the house and the foul stench of pig's blood permeated the air Thursday evening.
Dennis Redford, a senior environmental emergency response officer with the BC Ministry of Environment, said the trucking company was responsible for the clean-up but that the blood was non-toxic and did not pose an environmental threat.
"The only issue we really foresee is that odour problem," he said in an interview Friday morning. "We don't want to bring bears down onto the highway where they can get hit by trucks and all that sort of stuff. The intent is to clean it up for that reason.
"And whenever you spill something along the side of the road you have the responsibility to clean it up."
He said the responsibility for clean-up was on the trucking company and they were in the midst of dealing with the issue.
"We'd like to get it done as soon as possible," Redford said, adding that a vacuum truck would likely be brought in to handle the mess.
Ron Durocher, the resident of the home on Bend Road, said in en email that he was advised to leave the house for the next few days while clean-up was being undertaken.
Pig's blood is used in animal feed, as fertilizer and is also shipped to Asia where it used in some recipes, said Cpl. Wiebe.
The truck drive, a 57-year-old Kelowna man, was charged with driving without due care and attention.
RCMP, Revelstoke Fire Rescue Services, BC Ambulance and BC Hydro attended the scene.