caption, page 3:

Contained
No contamination was detected outside the containment area at DCC Propane after the spill of 25,000 gallons of No. 2 fuel oil last week in East Putnam. Courtesy photo.



Fuel oil spill
appears
contained
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — After tests on water samples from private wells near the large fuel oil spill at 10 Mary Crest Drive, at the DCC Propane tanks, the Northeast District Department of Health (NDDH) reported that no contamination was detected.
NDDH had collected water samples from private wells in the vicinity of the No. 2 fuel oil spill and submitted the samples to the CT state laboratory to test for the presence ofextractable total petroleum hydrocarbons (ETPH) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The tests show no contamination detected.
The site remains under investigation by state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection in coordination with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Town of Putnam, and the responsible party will coordinate a plan that includes future testing.
March 21 the Putnam Fire Marshal’s Office responded to a report of a large fuel oil spill at 10 Mary Crest Dr. in E. Putnam.
The DEEP’s Emergency Response and Spill Division notified Putnam that 25,000 gallons of No. 2 fuel oil had spilled into the tank containment area.  The four-tank system was at 25 percent capacity when the one of the tanks experienced a failure, according to the Fire Marshal’s Office.
Representatives from the facility’s owner (DCC Propane) were on scene most of the day and Kropp Environmental was on scene by 9:30 a.m. to begin the cleanup.  The tank containment system appears to have captured the full amount of product released and there is no immediate danger to the environment; however, monitoring wells were set to determine if any of the fuel oil had seeped into the surrounding soils.
There is also no danger to the public as this is a secured facility and the product released is not a flammable but a combustible liquid.
The Fire Marshal’s Office said “This is a large remediation and cleanup work will continue to take place for several weeks.  By the end of the day Kropp Environmental was able to recover 24,820 gallons.”
Throughout the day the Putnam Fire Marshal’s Office worked in conjunction with CT DEEP, the EPA, and DCC Propane representatives to formulate a plan of correction and prevention to include testing and ultrasound inspection of all tanks, a comprehensive review of emergency plans and training records, and increased frequency of on-site inspections with the goal of preventing the possibility of future spills.
If anyone has information on this incident, they are urged to call the Putnam Fire Marshal’s Office at 860-963-6800 x112.
NDDH reminds anyone with private wells to conduct full water quality tests on an annual basis.

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