Heating Fuel Spill At Church Property Requires Cleanup

By Andrew Gorosko

After a heating fuel leak was discovered on the St John’s Episcopal Church property at 5 Washington Avenue in Sandy Hook Center midday on Sunday, December 23, firefighters and others responded to scene in seeking to halt environmental hazards posed by the problem.

Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company Chief Bill Halstead said this week that the church has an external tank where fuel is held to heat the building.

Apparently, at some point in time, some ice had fallen off the steeply pitched church roof and came crashing down to the ground, damaging a valve on a fuel line on the external tank, he said.

That damage resulted in a heating fuel leak, whose spillage was then absorbed in a mass of snow that was on the property, he said. The leak occurred atop a paved surface and then spread outward on the pavement, he said.

The leak may have occurred a few days before its smell became apparent to a church members, he said. It is estimated that about 30 gallons of #2 heating fuel leaked from the tank.

Based on evidence, only a small amount of the spilled fuel drained down into the nearby Pootatuck River, he said.

After receiving a call for help midday on December 23, Sandy Hook firefighters responded to scene to contain the spill.

Absorbent materials were spread through the area and containment booms were placed near stormwater drainage structures and in the Pootatuck River to trap the fuel.

Firefighters alerted the state Department of Environmental (DEP), after which a DEP field inspector went to the scene. The DEP called in a private environmental firm to clean up the heating fuel spill, Chief Halstead said.