Oil seeped into the stormwater system.
LEWISTON – A small heating oil spill in a Sabattus Street apartment building drew worried calls Thursday from neighbors, mistakenly identifying the odor as natural gas.
“These days, everybody smells gas,” said Capt. Tim Myers of the Lewiston Fire Department. There was no gas there, though.
Just before 11 a.m., workers at the nearby Luiggi’s Pizzeria called firefighters about the suspicious odor. Minutes later, firefighters traced the problem to 153 Sabattus St.
Gallons of fuel oil had drained onto the basement floor just minutes after delivery by Webber Energy Fuel.
According to Tom Powell, Webber’s general manager, the technician did nothing wrong. A valve on a 275-gallon tank malfunctioned when a protective screen froze.
As the worker filled the tank, the faulty valve caused a build-up of pressure that ruptured a seam and caused the leak, Powell said.
There was little danger, Powell and Myers agreed.
When firefighters arrived at the scene, they found the basement of the building covered in oil. Myers estimated about 40 gallons had leaked from the tank before firefighters could put a temporary patch over the seam. Workers than spread absorbant pads across the floor, to pick up as much fuel as they could.
Powell said he believed that fewer gallons leaked out and as little as 10 gallons actually made it into the ground or the drain system.
Besides two crews of firefighters, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the Lewiston-Auburn Water Pollution Control Authority were alerted to the scene.
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