Gas spill forces garage teardown as soil, water cleanup continues

By Shawn Cunningham

Joel Brookes’ garage will now be torn down so that work crews can take up the gasoline-laden soil beneath. Photos by Shawn Cunningham

Homeowner Joel Brookes watches each day as trucks haul away more and more contaminated soil from his land following the May 16 tanker accident that spilled 2,500 gallons of gasoline into his garden. At first, the cleanup was a small affair, but as gasoline reached the Williams River on May 21, the work intensified.

As Tuesday May 27 comes to a close, Brookes awaits a storage “pod” into which he will move the contents of his barn before the clean up contractors demolish it to excavate the ground underneath. Brookes says that the contractor will be cutting a swath of land from Route 11 to the river. The contaminated dirt is being hauled to the town yard on Reservoir Road. The following report is from last Wednesday.

Around 7:40 a.m. Wednesday, May 28, crews tear down the Brookeses’ garage to begin digging up contaminated dirt beneath.

‘The fuel fuel has made the water’

From left, Joel Brookes shows an environmental cleanup worker where he saw gasoline leaking on last Wednesday morning.

Last Wednesday morning — May 21 — Joel Brookes was walking his dog Buddy near the Williams River behind his home on Route 11 near Goldthwaite Road.

He smelled gasoline and looked down to see – clearly through the polarized lenses of his sunglasses – the sheen of gas pouring out of the bank below him. Brookes was concerned earlier last week that the 2,500 gallons of gasoline that was spilled by May 16’s tanker wreck was not being cleaned up quickly enough and that the gas would migrate underground to the river. “I told you this would happen,” said Brookes.

Firefighters lay new booms across the Williams River.

After calling 911, Brookes took floating booms that had been used by the Burlington-based cleanup crew and laid them around the area where he could see the leak. Wading out into the river, he set a concrete block on which to tie the booms off.

“The fuel has made the water,” confirmed Chester Fire Chief Matt Wilson. “We directed the homeowner how to put out some booms until we could get here and we will put booms across the river to contain the fuel.” Wilson said he has asked Vermont Emergency Management to send a representative from the Agency of Natural Resources to the scene.

In addition to Chester Fire and Police, the Springfield Fire Department also responded to the call.

— Shawn Cunningham