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Fuel leak spurs local clean up |
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Tuesday, 11 December 2007 |
By KAY LOUTH
Staff Writer
ST. MARYS — A fuel leak near the Certified gas station on E. Spring Street had authorities searching for clues to its origin.
The St. Marys Fire Department got a call Saturday from a resident at 107 S. Van Street, from the home of Lance and Misty Mihm, of an odor in their home.
“When we got up Saturday the whole house was permeated with the smell,” Mihm said.
By the time fire fighters arrived, said Fire Chief Ken Cline, the Mihms had opened their doors and aired the house out.
“We took a truck and a gas meter down, but we couldn’t find a problem,” Cline said.
“We couldn’t find a source and kind of left it at that.” The next day city water crews were working in the area and someone checked the sanitary sewer and found a petroleum product in the sewer.
Something Cline said was probably gasoline.
“We immediately tried to determine the source by narrowing down the location, which is just south of the Certified station,” Monday afternoon, investigators had not yet positively identified the fuel leak as originating from the Certified station.
Late Monday however, Dina Pierce, spokesperson for the Ohio Environment Protection Agency (EPA) reported that investigators were able to trace the leak to the gas station.
“ Their tanks are fine,” she said. “The leak is coming from one of the gas lines. Now that the source has been found, the leak can be stopped. The contaminated soil will be removed starting tomorrow.”
Fire crews set to work immediately to control the situation since there was a real danger of explosion from the fumes but Cline said fire fighters got it under control quickly.
“When we first tested the sanitary sewer we had some areas with some explosive levels high enough there could have been an explosion had there been an ignition source,” Cline said. “As soon as we became aware there was a problem we acted quickly.” He stressed the danger of explosion is over.
“There is no hazard right now to the environment or to the public,” he stressed. “We’ve got it contained and there’s no danger at this point.”
Cline said it was just a small trickle of gas in the sewer, which is being sucked out and captured in a tanker truck.
Earlier on Monday, Ohio EPA, the local EMA, fire department, BUSTR and an environmental cleanup contractor were at the scene after fuel was discovered to be entering the sanitary sewer on Sunday. The cleanup company was pumping out the sewer system to removed the fuel-contaminated wastewater, Pierce said..
The Mihm family evacuated their home and is staying in temporary quarters during the interim.
“They are the only ones to my knowledge,” Cline said, “that have relocated.” But the department did receive more complaints Sunday.
Troy Anderson Auglaize County EMA director was also called to the scene by the fire department and Anderson reported it to the Ohio EPA who in turn sent an agent to the scene.
“We’ve got two small leaks running into the sanitary system,” Anderson said. “We’ve got plugs into the drain and are running vacuums to suck the product up. It has a gasoline sheen and vapors.”
“I think everything is going good,” Anderson said. The gas station has been very cooperative,” Anderson said, something Cline echoed.
“Certified has been very cooperative,” Cline said.
A employee at the gas station told the Evening Leader they had no information at this point.
Clean up costs could prove costly Cline said depending what the source of the leak and whether it’s an underground tank or just a line. |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 14 December 2007 )
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