MIAMI -- According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, a freight train struck a gasoline tanker with 8,000 gallons of fuel Sunday morning near a cluster of gasoline storage facilities around Port Everglades, causing the tanker to spill its fuel and trap its driver and passenger inside.

Several units, including Broward, Hollywood and Davie Fire Rescue teams, responded to the incident, which occurred about 5:50 a.m. The area was evacuated and power was turned off, as officials worked to free the driver trapped inside the tanker, and at the same time contain the spill and prevent an explosion.

“The fire threat was significant,’’ said Todd LeDuc, spokesman for Broward County Fire Rescue. “That’s why we responded with so many resources to mitigate that threat.”

Hollywood Rescue Fire Division Chief Robert Madge added, “Let’s put it this way, one gallon of gasoline is the equivalent of 25 sticks of dynamite. You had 8,000 times that.

“It could have been a really bad situation, but it turned out good. We had two things working for us. It was in an industrial zone and it was Sunday morning. So people were not at work and there wasn’t a lot of traffic.’’

Rudy Catalan, 50, a driver for a Texas tanker company, and the passenger, driver-trainee Tom Krywalski, 49, of Fort Lauderdale, were headed to Hialeah, when it was hit by the 15-car train, which had only an engineer and conductor aboard.

Krywalski, who had 10 year’s experience of driving tractor-trailers, told Hollywood Fire Rescue officials that he kicked out the windshield of the vehicle after the crash and ran for help after he was unable to pull Catalan, who was unconscious, from the tanker. Broward sheriff’s deputies, paramedics and firefighters were able to remove Catalan from the truck after about 20 minutes.

Catalan and Krywalski were taken to Broward General Trauma Center, where they both were in stable condition Sunday afternoon. The train’s engineer and conductor were not injured.

LeDuc said the hazardous materials teams “successfully contained the spill” to the area of Southeast 28th Street and Southeast 14th Avenue, which is surrounded by fuel storage facilities that supply South Florida with petroleum products.

About 7,000 gallons of gasoline and 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel spilled from the tanker, which had just fueled up, after a Florida East Coast Railroad freight train carrying steel beams to Hialeah backed into the truck, owned by Petro-Chemical Transport Co. of Carrollton, Texas, LeDuc said.

Conflicting stories emerged over the incident, which occurred at an intersection without railroad crossing gates. Catalan said he brought the truck to a stop and put on the vehicle’s four-way flashers, then proceeded before the crash. But the train’s conductor and engineer said the truck came across the tracks in the early dawn hours without stopping.

Fire officials blanketed the area with foam to keep the gasoline vapors from filling the air and covered the area with inflatable plastic and absorbing pads to help soak up the spill.

Seventeen units from Hollywood Fire Rescue, Port Everglades, Broward Fire Rescue, Davie Fire Rescue, the Broward Sheriff’s Office, FEC railroad investigators, as well as federal and local environmental officials, were on the scene.

LeDuc said SWS, a private firm contracted by the tanker company, was called in to do the cleanup. A SWS crane righted the tanker and towed it away.

No charges were filed Sunday, but the accident is under investigation by the Sheriff’s Office and FEC railroad officials.