Machinery Spills Hydraulic Fluid

At Town Construction Site

By Andrew Gorosko

While doing some earthmoving work at a town athletic field under construction near the intersection of Oakview Road and Wasserman Way on the morning of Thursday, August 9, a rented front-loader machine being used by town Parks & Recreation Department staff sprung a hydraulic fluid leak, resulting in an emergency response by the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company, officials said.

Firefighters responded to the scene following the 9:06 am call, according to Sandy Hook Fire Chief Bill Halstead. The site near the Pootatuck River is in the town’s environmentally sensitive Aquifer Protection District (APD).

Carl Samuelson, who oversees the operation of town parks, said this week that the front-loader blew a hydraulic line resulting in the fluid spillage. He estimated that somewhat more than five gallons of hydraulic fluid came into contact with the soil.

Other fluid that had leaked from the machinery was captured and isolated in buckets and in absorbent pads, he said.

A state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) spill inspector, Donnell Thigpen, responded to the incident to oversee the cleanup work, Mr Samuelson said.

The equipment company from which the town rented the loader arranged to have the site cleaned up by Moran Environmental Recovery, Mr Samuelson said. Moran dug out and removed the contaminated soil, he said.

No spilled fluid reached any stormwater catch basins or waterways, Mr Samuelson said.

DEEP spokesman Dennis Schain said that Newtown emergency officials had alerted DEEP that about seven gallons of hydraulic fluid had gotten onto the ground in the spill.

Mr Samuelson said that the town plans to open the multipurpose athletic field for public use on Labor Day in 2013, after turf has had time to establish itself there. The field will be irrigated.