Cleanup Under Way —

MTBE Turns Up Near Crash Site

By Andrew Gorosko

In an environmental investigation following a major gasoline tanker accident on South Main Street, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has found that some groundwater near the accident scene is contaminated with MTBE, a toxic gasoline additive.

Ken LeClerc, a DEP spills inspector, said October 8 the DEP is conducting an ongoing investigation into the environmental effect that the crash had on groundwater in the area. The shallow underground water table there lies between three feet and eight feet below the ground’s surface. Twenty groundwater quality test wells have been drilled to gauge the effects of the September 27 gasoline spill.

Fleet Environmental Services of Bethel is conducting the cleanup project near 81 South Main Street under DEP direction.

The concentration of MTBE found in the groundwater “appears to be a fairly isolated case,” Mr LeClerc said. MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether) is an additive that is placed in gasoline to limit air pollution.

Workers have removed approximately 500 cubic yards of contaminated soil from the area, Mr LeClerc said. That soil will be incinerated to purge it of gasoline. It is estimated that between 400 and 500 gallons of gasoline spilled from the gasoline tanker and drained away, causing the soil contamination, Mr LeClerc said. The remainder of the estimated 8,400 gallons of gasoline that was being hauled in the tanker truck burned for several hours in a massive fire until it burned itself out.

As a precautionary measure, the three dwelling units in an apartment house at 81 Main Street are being supplied with domestic water from a nearby fire hydrant, Mr LeClerc said. The water well that serves those three apartments is not contaminated, but allowing that apartment house to draw water from its well might create problems, so it is being temporarily supplied with water by a fire hydrant, he said.

“There’s no indication of any contamination to private water wells at this time,” Mr LeClerc said. In that immediate area, besides the apartment house’s water well, individual water wells serve businesses located at 83 and 85 South Main Street.

As a precautionary measure, the two businesses have been advised that they should only draw water from their wells for bathroom use, he said.

It is unclear whether the properties served by the three water wells would need to connect to the United Water public water supply, which runs along South Main Street, Mr LeClerc said.

Mr LeClerc estimated gasoline spill cleanup costs at “more than $100,000.” The trucking company whose fuel tanker was involved in the accident is being billed for the cleanup, he said. If it is later determined that another party was responsible for causing the accident, that party would be billed, he added.

The South Main Street gasoline tanker crash caused significantly less environmental damage than a fatal October 1996 gasoline tanker crash at George’s Pizza and Restaurant on Route 302 in Dodgingtown, Mr LeClerc said. Most of the gasoline involved in the South Main Street accident burned up, and thus did not pose soil and groundwater pollution problems, Mr LeClerc said. The Dodgingtown accident resulted in extensive gasoline contamination of the soil and groundwater.

Police Investigation

Police Lieutenant James Mooney said this week the police investigation into the South Main Street gasoline tanker accident is continuing.

“We’re compiling all the data. It’s hard to put a time frame on the investigation,” he said.

Police have said that as bad as the tanker accident was, it could have been much worse had events unfolded differently.

Detective Sergeant Robert Tvardzik was on patrol in the area when the accident occurred.

While at a nearby shopping center, Det Sgt Tvardzik heard a loud “pressurized ‘poof’ noise,” which was the gasoline in the tanker igniting after the accident’s impact. Det Sgt Tvardzik said this week he saw flames from the burning tanker rise 200 feet into the air.

The detective sergeant, who was approximately 1,000 feet from the accident when it occurred, alerted other police of the emergency immediately.

In the crash, a gasoline tanker truck collided head-on with a sport-utility vehicle early on the morning of Saturday, September 27, igniting an immense fire that burned for several hours, causing extensive property damage and widespread traffic delays.

Fred H. Mehin, 63, of 659 Middlebury Road, Middlebury, was driving the tractor-trailer gasoline tanker truck northward on South Main Street about 2:12 am, as motorist John Riguzzi, 31, of 5 Walker Hill Road, Sandy Hook, was driving a 2002 Nissan X-Terra sport-utility vehicle southward. The Nissan crossed the road’s centerline and collided head-on with the tanker truck in the northbound lane. The collision occurred about 200 feet south of South Main Street’s southernmost intersection with Elm Drive.

Mehin, who received a burn on his face, was able to get away from the tanker truck after the crash. He was treated for injuries at the scene by the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps. Mehin was hauling the load of gasoline from Bridgeport to Danbury. The tanker was owned by R.J. Guerrera, Inc of Beacon Falls.

 An unidentified passerby pulled Riguzzi from the Nissan. Three firefighters later pulled Riguzzi away from the wreckage. The ambulance corps transported Riguzzi, who had serious injuries, to Danbury Hospital, where he was admitted as a patient. He received a broken leg and other injuries. Riguzzi was listed in fair condition in the hospital on Wednesday, October 8.

After the crash, about a dozen people who were living in two houses near the accident were evacuated from the area to safety by police and firefighters.

Newtown Hook and Ladder, Botsford, and Sandy Hook firefighters went to the accident.

It was decided to let the intensely burning gasoline tanker consume its fuel and burn itself out, Newtown Hook and Ladder Fire Chief Dave Ober said. It was environmentally safer to allow the fire to burn itself out than to actively extinguish it and risk the possibility of increasing the area contaminated by gasoline, according to Chief Ober.

Neighbor’s Account

At the time of the accident, Leonard Manz was asleep at home at 84 South Main Street. Also asleep there were his grown daughter Marie and her two children, Victoria, 11, and Christina, 13.

Mr Manz, who was roused from sleep by his daughter, had the presence of mind to videotape the harrowing crash aftermath. The crash occurred approximately 100 feet from his front porch on the heavily traveled South Main Street. The house, known as the Johnston Homestead, is an ornate 1830s-era structure.

The videotape dramatizes the intensity and scope of the crash as Mr Manz and his family fled northward to safety on South Main Street.

“My daughters dragged me up there in my pajamas and my slippers,” Mr Manz said of the immediacy of the evacuation.

The group later huddled on the front stoop of Carminuccio’s Pizza at 76 South Main Street, where they spent the balance of the night. They received blankets from the ambulance corps.

“It was an awful bad situation…It was awful, honestly, ” Mr Manz said of his family’s predicament.

While the Manz family manned its outpost, firefighters hosed down their home and other buildings in the area to prevent them from catching fire from the blazing gasoline tanker.

A number of trees, however, ignited and burned down. Lawns also burned. Utility lines caught fire, resulting in lengthy electrical, telephone, and cable television outages.

The fire damaged roughly a 100-foot long stretch of South Main Street that will need repaving.

“I’m just glad we got out of it. We thought the house was going [to burn] up,” Mr Manz said.

Marie Manz said as the accident occurred, she heard a loud “crash” followed by the sound of scraping metal, trees breaking, and then a series of explosions, in which electrical transformers were blowing out.

Of the momentous night, she said, “It was cold… We were scared… It was just like chaos.”

“I’m surprised everything didn’t go [up in flames],” she said.

 

Businesses

Across the street, at 83 South Main Street, Ann and John Osborn run Galerie Van-Os, a framing shop.

Following the accident, much heavy equipment was parked in the parking lot shared by Galerie Van-Os and by the adjacent Style Clothing and Accessories at 85 South Main Street.

On Tuesday, Ms Osborn said that life is returning to normal. The accident resulted in some window damage to the business, as well as exterior paint charring, she said.

Local firefighters took the trouble to move artworks within the building to prevent them from becoming damaged when they doused the building’s exterior to keep it from catching fire, she said.

Of the accident, Ms Osborn said, “It happened. This road has a lot of traffic, a lot of fast traffic.” South Main Street has many accidents, she said.

Damage to the building that houses the business is estimated at $15,000 to $20,000, she said.

Karen Bauer, who is the proprietor next door at Style Clothing and Accessories, said the accident resulted in her new business closing for four days. The store opened in late August.

The firm was fortunate because the building and stock were not damaged, she said. Life was getting back to normal this week, she said.

Ms Bauer said she attached some colorful helium balloons to her store’s sign alongside South Main Street to attract attention to it amid the many vehicles parked outside that were connected with the nearby environmental cleanup work.

The crash and its aftermath caused police to close the heavily traveled South Main Street to through-traffic for approximately 20 hours, after which alternating one-way traffic was restored. It was not until about 8 pm Sunday night, about 42 hours after the accident occurred, that two-way traffic resumed on the street. Detours were used while the road was closed.