A crew worked on cleaning up a gas spill at a Gulf station yesterday morning in Weymouth after a driver ran over and severed a hose attached to a gasoline delivery truck.
(Yoon S. Byun/ Globe Staff)
Driver snaps delivery truck hose at gas station, spilling 100 gallons
Cleanup makes impact minimal
A crew worked on cleaning up a gas spill at a Gulf station yesterday morning in Weymouth after a driver ran over and severed a hose attached to a gasoline delivery truck.
(Yoon S. Byun/ Globe Staff)
WEYMOUTH - More than 100 gallons of gasoline spilled onto Main and Winter streets around 8:45 a.m. yesterday after a woman drove over and severed a hose at a Gulf gas station, according to fire officials.
The Weymouth Fire Department and Clean Harbors, an environmental services contractor, cleaned up the spill and surrounding storm drains. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection was also called to the scene.
“This is an extremely serious situation,’’ Deputy Fire Chief Joe Davis said yesterday morning.
The hose was attached to a J.P. Noonan delivery truck that was delivering gasoline from an underground tank.
The truck was surrounded by orange cones during the gasoline delivery, said Davis, but the driver, whose name was not released and who was not charged, drove through them. Her gray Nissan severed the hose, snapping off its nozzle, and opening a 4-inch hole in the ground, he said.
The spill released 117 gallons of gasoline, which pooled under the woman’s car before leaking into the street.
The gasoline was cleaned up using a chemical absorbent called Speedy Dry, said Daniel McCormack, a chemical inspector for the Weymouth Health Department. The sandy substance, which was spread on the ground surrounding the gas station, absorbs gasoline and oil but not water. McCormack said Clean Harbors filled the catch basins around the gas station with impacted soil, which will be disposed of according to environmental regulations.
Davis said the Fire Department found no flammable vapors after the cleanup and did not expect a fire or explosion.
Mark Jablonski, a Department of Environmental Protection engineer, said that the environmental impact of the spill will probably be minimal because most of the gasoline leakage was on the asphalt surface. Much of the gas that made it into nearby storm drains was absorbed by large stuffed “socks’’ called booms, possibly left over from an old spill, he said. He said he would look at storm drain plans to see where the drains discharge to determine if absorbent materials should be used there, too.
As a precaution, the Public Works Department shut down a nearby water treatment plant, but that did not affect the quality of water yesterday, officials said.
Globe correspondent Benjamin Paulin contributed to this report. 
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