CHESTERVILLE – Hazardous material specialists worked Thursday to stop a flow of heating oil running under the snow along Route 156 from reaching a town well and the Sandy River.

A pipe broke on a fuel oil tank in the basement of a home on Route 156 Wednesday night and about 200 gallons of oil drained through a sump pump hole in the basement to outside the home, said Chesterville Fire Chief David Archer.

The family discovered the leak after they had smelled a strong odor of oil, he said.

Firefighters dug holes along the side of the road Wednesday evening and put absorbent pads in them to soak up the oil and try to dam it to prevent it from spreading, Archer said.

Oil was detected about 250 feet from the Farmington Falls Standard Water District’s well house, according to hazardous material specialist Jon Andrews with the state Department of Environmental Protection.

He was digging holes in the snow Thursday to determine how far the oil had traveled.

Workers of Environmental Projects Inc. of Gray were using industrial vacuums to suck up the oil and contaminated dirt.

The oil had progressed farther down the road since he arrived earlier Thursday but had not hit the stream that emptied into the Sandy River yet, Andrews said.

“We want to get it done before it hits the stream and before the rain hits us Friday,” he said.

Andrews dug one hole that showed there was oil present and another one about 20 feet away from it and there was just a pink sheen there.

At that point, he was 350 feet from the home where the oil leak started.

Andrews expected the oil to be cleaned up before it reached the stream and the well, he said.