For the record

Ed Greenwood
12/24/14

What was the spill on Main Street in front of the Dollarama store that had the street closed?

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For the record

Bruce Balcom
Deputy Director of Operations
Town of Oliver

Hydraulic leak on Dec. 23/14 on Main Street outside the Dollarama. I received a call in the afternoon around 12:30 that a truck was leaking some sort of fluid onto the road. When I arrived there appeared to be a large amount of hydraulic fluid in the right hand lane. There was a police car detouring southbound traffic around the site, and a fireman on site.

Someone had put a containment roll around the site but with all the traffic prior … anyone arriving  after saw the fluid had been pulled as far away as Main St/Fairview Rd intersection causing the right lane and intersections to become very slippery. I called all Public Works crew members to meet me on site and to bring barricades and detour signs. We relieved the police, set up barricades and detour signs and proceeded to go to the hardware store and get material to absord the oil.

The crew then dispersed the material from the site down past town hall. At that time Argo Road Maintenance came with their sand truck and started spreading sand as well. We let the material sit for a half hour to absorb the fluid. We then got brooms and  shovels and picked up what we could.

After all was safe we removed all our material and equipment and left the site. Argo came out early the next morning with the sweeper and cleaned up any remaining sand and debris. The fluid was contained at all times so as not to reach any catch basin. Our staff was limited because of the upcoming holidays, and everybody acted quickly to get things back to normal.

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Terry Schafer was the Argo Maintenance person on duty and told ODN that he was impressed with the cooperation of police, fire, Town personnel and the scene.

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No photo of the incident sent to ODN – did you take a picture?