U.S. 42 in Jerome Township, from Watkins California Road to the south side of the U.S. 33 overpass was closed for more than seven hours Monday as crews worked to clean spilled industrial lubricant from the roadway. Officials said the lubricant was spilled in multiple areas from the site, north on U.S. 42 into the City of Delaware.
(Photo submitted)
—
A portion of U.S. 42 in Jerome Township was closed for more than seven hours Monday as crews worked to clean spilled industrial lubricant.
Jerome Township Division of Fire Chief Douglas Stewart said that, at about 1:46 p.m., his department received a call about a commercial tanker truck leaking fluid on the road.
He said the truck, coming from the Henkel Corporation on London Road in Delaware, was full of the industrial-grade lubricant Bonderite.
“Every time the truck would stop, the fluid would shift and leak out,” Stewart said. “It was spilled all over the road.”
The truck driver became aware of the leak when he was on the north side of the U.S. 42 bridge over U.S. 33. The driver got onto the U.S. 33 eastbound on ramp and pulled off the road into the gravel and stopped.
“It was just a fitting that wasn’t tightened all the way that was allowing the fluid to leak out,” Stewart said.
He said the fire department “put sand down to contain it.”
As officials worked to contain the spill, they learned it was larger than they initially thought.
“There were several spills going north all the way to the City of Delaware,” Stewart said, explaining that investigators “back tracked it all the way to Delaware city.”
He explained that officials in Delaware knew there had been a leak, but didn’t know where the fluid had come from until they were contacted about the truck.
Fire departments from Jerome and Concord townships along with the City of Delaware responded to the scenes as did the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Union County Sheriff’s Office.
“The fire department was there to handle the spill and the material. The highway patrol and the sheriff’s office were there to deal with traffic control,” Union County Sheriff Jamie Patton explained.
Stewart said U.S. 42, from Watkins California Road to the south side of the overpass, were closed. He said he understands closing the road caused some problems “but we knew that was the best way to contain it.”
Stewart said his department left the scene at about 6:10 p.m. “but the clean-up company and the EPA (Ohio Environmental Protection Agency) were there much longer than that cleaning up.”
The road was reopened just before 9 p.m.
The Public Utility Commission of Ohio is in charge of enforcing motor commercial regulations and was also at the scene. Officials from PUCO were contacted, but did not have information about the spill or possible citations.
Stewart said he is urging drivers, as always, to be cautions when the roadway is wet.
“One concern we have is that when it rains, the oil is going to come up and is probably going to cause some slippery spots,” Stewart said. “That’s why we put sand down to absorb as much of it as we could.”
He encouraged drivers to “be careful when they travel, be cautious and drive defensively because anytime it rains, the roadway can become slippery.”