Nick Cosmo, a member of the Holyoke Fire Department and District 4 Hazmat Team, uses a portable laboratory to test an unknown substance that was discharged into the Westfield River yesterday. Testing of the material confirmed it was a harmless water-based ink product. (Photo by chief photographer Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – A substance emptying into the Westfield River from a drain yesterday afternoon was not hazardous.
Westfield Fire Chief Mary Regan said the department received a call at 2 p.m. about a bluish-purple liquid coming from a drain on Railroad Avenue.
“It was going down the river about 150 feet,” she said.
The WFD isolated the area and called in a hazardous materials team.
“We started looking for a source and traced it to a sewer pipe on Columbus Place that was blocked,” said Regan.
Tests of the substance revealed it was non-hazardous water-based ink. “The DPW cleared the blockage and the hazmat team determined the fluid was waste,” Regan said. Water is being flushed through the system and the water is being pooled and cleaned out.
The water department aided the cleanup and response efforts along with a WFD engine company, chief and deputy chief, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, and Hazmat District 4.
