A large fuel spill on Blackwater Road at the top of the Bouchie Lake Hill has now been cleaned up.
The Bouchie Lake Volunteer Fire Department was called to Rocky’s General Store just after 9 o’clock this morning after somewhere between one and two thousand litres of gas was spilled while a truck was filling the store’s tanks.
Fire Fighter Austin Baker, speaking to us on scene, said that today’s weather actually helped…
“Well it does because some of the fuel does get soaked up and diluted in the snow, so it’s good in that respect. But we still have a spill that’s sitting there stagnant because it’s created a bit of a bowl effect, which is nice as they do have a containment area around that, so it has saturated into that now, so it’s basically like a swimming pool around those fuel pumps.”
Baker says they were on scene to make sure that the public was a safe distance away as a precaution.
A team from Prince George came down to clean up the spill and the fuel pumps at the store are once again open.
ORIGINAL STORY:
The Bouchie Lake Volunteer Fire Department was called to the scene of a large fuel spill this morning.
Fire Fighter Austin Baker confirms that the call came in just after 9 o’clock for a spill in behind the fuel tanks at Rocky’s General Store on Blackwater Road at the top of the Bouchie Lake Hill.
We spoke to Baker on scene…
“We’re just keeping the public safe, keeping everybody back and waiting for a Hazmat team, or a spill team, to come from Prince George, I think from Esso, so no immediate danger. We’ve notified the immediate residents to let them know if they want to maybe vacate or avoid outside fires it might be a good idea.”
Baker says they’re not sure at this point how much fuel was spilled as the truck was filling the store’s pumps.
He says it could be anywhere from a thousand litres to two thousand.
Baker says the weather is actually helping…
“Well it does because some of the fuel does get soaked up and diluted in the snow, so it’s good in that respect. But we still have a spill that’s sitting there stagnant because it’s created a bit of a bowl effect, which is nice as they do have a containment area around that, so it has saturated into that now, so it’s basically like a swimming pool around those fuel pumps.”
While the pumps have obviously been shut off, the store portion of Rocky’s remains open.