Westfield firefighter Raymond Nielsen rakes sand which was deployed to absorb hundreds of gallons of fuel oil which spilled on to Western Avenue yesterday morning and was contained by a line of sandbags until it could be absorbed. (Photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
WESTFIELD – Western Avenue was partially closed for hours yesterday morning and afternoon after a fuel truck sprang a leak and spilled hundreds of gallons of heating oil on to the roadway while making a delivery.
One of the city’s emergency dispatchers reports a caller reported the incident at 10:25 a.m. and both police and firefighters were dispatched to Western Avenue, near the intersection of Kensington Avenue, where an oil delivery truck was parked in a puddle of fuel oil.
Deputy Chief Patrick Kane reports that the oil delivery driver had been at the side of his customer’s house filling the heating oil tank when he realized that it was not filling as he expected it to.
When he checked his truck, he found that the hose had failed and had been leaking oil.
“He did what he was supposed to do, he hit the emergency shut off” said Westfield Police Office Michael Gamache of the department’s Traffic Bureau who responded to the spill due to his expertise with heavy vehicles.
Kane reports that about 200 gallons spilled but said that the oil was contained.
“None of it got into the storm drain, that was the big thing” said Kane.
Firefighters deployed a line of sandbags to contain the spill and dumped sand and clay into the puddle of oil to absorb it.
Western Avenue was partially closed for several hours while a commercial company contracted to clean up the spill performed its work. Police report normal use of the road resumed at about 5 p.m.
A representative of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection came to the city to inspect the effects of the spill but imposed no sanctions on the oil company due to the accidental nature of the spill.
“It was just an unfortunate incident. The hose developed a leak,” said Gamache.
