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Fire chief: Diesel spill cleanup complete

WELLSVILLE — Containment and cleanup from last week’s diesel fuel spill at the Wellsville Intermodal Facility has been completed, according to Wellsville Fire Chief Barry Podwel.

During Tuesday’s village council meeting, Podwel provided an update on the spill that happened at Anchor Drilling Fluids, located inside the Clark Avenue terminal in which hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel ended up in the Ohio River.

The incident, which took place around 2:30 a.m. Oct. 10 and was reported about five hours later, was due to an overfill of a storage tank at the facility. The fuel leaked into the storm sewer system, leading to the pondage area, and then into the river.

Among those publicly thanked by Podwel was Ergon Inc., which provided primary and secondary containment booms that were lowered into the river where the fuel hit. The chief also thanked the East Liverpool Hazmat team for providing assistance.

Podwel took time to correct some of the reports that had circulated regarding the spill. He stated during the meeting that although 2,200 gallons of diesel fuel was spilled, only 300-500 gallons actually found its way into the river. It was contained to a half-mile perimeter, he said.

“There was no threat to the village, nothing to the drinking water because the intake for the drinking water is at the mouth of Yellow Creek, uptown,” Podwel said. “The only possibility that could have gotten into the system, the fire system at Wellsville terminal, but it was about half a mile down river from Marathon.”

Podwel said he talked with Ergon officials and learned the booms have been removed from the river, and all work has been completed on the spill. The village and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were contacted about the work.

Council member Karen Dash inquired as to why Anchor does not have its own emergency equipment, to which Podwel responded it would come from the fire department.

“We have some guys that’s on the department with Hazmat training, but we don’t have the equipment,” Podwel said. “That’s why we called (East) Liverpool. Liverpool is the regional Hazmat in this area, so that’s why we called them. We know Ergon has booms over there, and that’s why we called them immediately and had them set up a couple booms. They ran out, and then East Liverpool provided a couple booms.”

Village Administrator Jerry Medley and Mayor Nancy Murray each commended the fire department on its cleanup efforts, but both expressed disappointment that the spill was not reported immediately to the village.

“It should have been reported to us sooner,” Medley said. “It should have, but things like that happen.”

“I went down to see the plant manager because it happened at two o’clock in the morning, and we weren’t notified until 7:30 the next morning,” Murray said. “I ask him, on their list, ‘Who do you notify first?’ He went all through these other people, and then I said ‘Well, where’s the village at on this list?,’ and I said ‘from now on, it better be at the top.’ So if any more spills or any incidents happen at that intermodal park, the village will be notified first.”

Murray also expressed concern the spilled fuel could have infiltrated into the soil. She said she will contact the EPA to see how much damage was believed to have occurred.

Meanwhile, Podwel also provided the monthly activity report for the fire department, to which eight calls were reported in September 2017, compared to only one report in September 2016.

Among the calls reported were three gas odor calls, one structure fire, one exposure from a structure fire and one rekindle, one motor vehicle accident, and one alarm activation at Shoub Towers at Main Street. Podwel noted the exposure and rekindle were both from the fire on Maple Street, which had been damaged a year earlier.

In 2017, the department has responded to 61 calls, compared to 67 calls at the same time a year ago.

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