Truck fire spills 150 gallons of fuel into Bluffton storm drains. Cleanup underway
State environmental officials are working to contain a diesel spill into Bluffton’s storm drain system before it reaches the New River after a garbage truck caught fire Wednesday and leaked approximately 150 gallons of fuel.
Bluffton town officials alerted the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control after firefighters doused the flames near the Parker’s gas station off S.C. 170 on Wednesday, according to Debbie Szpanka, public information officer for the town of Bluffton.
The truck, operated by Hardeeville-based East Coast Construction Cleanup, caught fire just after 7 a.m. Wednesday.
No one was injured and firefighters put out the blaze quickly, according to Bluffton Township Fire District Capt. Lee Levesque. Fire officials have not yet established the cause of the flames beyond saying it was accidental, he said.
The fire “melted the truck’s two gas tanks,” which lead to the spill, according to Szpanka.
Cleanup efforts are currently underway, according to DHEC.
An “unknown amount of fuel entered the storm drain system,” and DHEC is using “oil containment booms” to catch any pollution before it could reach the river, said Szpanka.
She called those measures preventative and said it is unclear if the fuel reached the river.
Pictures show attempts by officials to absorb the fuel as it flowed into the storm drain system.
DHEC officials declined comment Thursday on the state of the cleanup, citing the on-going investigation.
That investigation should be complete in one to two weeks, Szpanka said.
