In this incident on November 1st, 2019, Pro-Enviro responded to a major fuel spill caused by a tire blowout that punctured a vehicle’s full fuel tank on the I-90, near Washington State. We arrived quickly on the scene with an environmental truck and secondary unit as well as a Bobcat with a sweeper attachment/dump trailer.
At the scene, we spoke with the Washington State Department of Transportation as well as the driver of the vehicle to determine how much fuel had leaked. Our team then set up cones and temporary traffic signs to safely divert the traffic. We then quickly set to work dealing with this fuel spill cleanup.
Because of safety and traffic control, the WSDOT advised that our team would have to come back the next morning. We cleaned what we could from the roadway and noted some fuel that had spilled into the dirt along the shoulder of the road, which would need to be dealt with the following day.
Next Morning Cleanup Continues
The following morning, we returned to the vehicle spill location and met with WSDOT. We dug several test holes to check the depth and amount of contamination, to help us decided how much material and what equipment we would need. The full length of the spill was 420 ft. and needed an excavation depth of 12-24 inches in multiple areas to safely complete the spill recovery.
Together with traffic control, the lane was closed and our equipment then safely set up. First, we worked on the contained soil in the shoulder dirt. Using our Bobcat track loader and Bobcat mini excavator, we excavated a length of 420+ feet of contaminated dirt. As is the case sometimes, we discovered that the contamination went deeper than originally thought. To safely remove all contamination, we removed 30 more yards.
Still, our team worked steadily and efficiently, and we were able to remove all the contaminated soil and loaded it into a dump truck and dump trailer. Then, with our Bobcat track loader and Bobcat mini excavator, we replaced the removed soil. Afterwards, we swept the entire closed lane and shoulder with our Bobcat track loader and sweeper attachment, and then began loading our equipment back up. One last meeting with traffic control and we began opening lanes and cleaning up the traffic control devices. A major spill recovery safely, professionally and quickly handled by our team!
