By Mary Spicer
Meadville Tribune
MEADVILLE —
Charges are pending after what was reported as “a strong odor of gasoline” rising from Mill Run on Monday evening brought an immediate response from Meadville Central Fire Department, Meadville Police Department, the Crawford County Hazardous Materials Team and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection personnel. They weren’t the only emergency personnel involved in the response, however; during the more than two hours Meadville Central firefighters spent at the scene, West Mead 1 Volunteer Fire Department and Meadville Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company remained at their stations on standby.
Firefighters were dispatched to the bridge carrying Grove Street across Mill Run just below Walnut Street at 8:38 p.m., Chief Larndo (Tunie) Hedrick said Tuesday morning. After climbing down to the creek, he continued, “they discovered gas coming out of the storm sewer.”
According to spokesperson Freda Tarbell of Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, quick action at that point kept the gasoline from making it into the waterway.
“The fire department and HAZMAT responded very efficiently and thoroughly to this incident,” she said Tuesday. “They placed two booms, one directly under the Grove Street overpass and another approximately 150 feet downstream. They also set out about 150 absorbent pads within Mill Run.”
When DEP staff arrived at the scene, Tarbell continued, they didn’t observe any sheen on Mill Run; apparently, the gasoline collected within a small pool or side channel directly under the stormwater discharge area. Absorbent pads at that location were soaked with fuel, but the pads and booms in the main channel appeared to be clean. “Our biologist did not observe any dead fish or dead macroinvertebrates within Mill Run,” Tarbell added. “Those pads and those booms and their quick installation made a big difference.”
Doug Sekerski, owner of the residence at 891 Grove St. where the spill originated, disagrees.
At around 5 p.m., Sekerski told the Tribune on Tuesday, he used approximately a gallon and a half of gasoline to clean some vehicle parts. As he was washing down the area with the garden hose, it ran down a drain in his driveway that drains into the city’s stormwater system.
“I didn’t think it was that big a deal, but evidently they did,” said Sekerski, who serves as operations manager for Crawford Area Transportation Authority. “That’s all it was. No more, no less. They made a circus out of something nature would have taken care of.”
Tarbell disagrees. “Two gallons is still two gallons,” she said.
Because charges are still pending, possible penalties have not been determined, Hedrick said Tuesday.
Mary Spicer can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at mspicer@meadvilletribune.com.
