YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown Fire Department was called out to a former gas station at 1206 S. Schenley Ave. at 12:45 p.m. Tuesday to address gasoline leaking from underground storage tanks as a result of heavy rains.

When firefighters arrived, they discovered that underground tanks were leaking gasoline onto the property and flowing from the former gas station parking lot onto Schenley Avenue near the intersection with Bear’s Den Road.

The gasoline was flowing north on Bear’s Den toward three storm sewer catch basins, according to a Youngstown Fire Department report. The location is next to the Mill Creek Junior Baseball complex at 1106 Bear’s Den Road and the former Marzano’s Cut and Style on South Schenley Avenue.

The former gas station also is across from Youngstown Fire Station No. 15 on McCollum Road. Mill Creek Park also is across the street from the former gas station.

A Youngstown firetruck blocked off Bear’s Den Road at McCollum Road and another firetruck blocked off Bear’s Den Road at Schenley to keep traffic from in front of the former gas station.

Katie Boyer, Ohio EPA deputy director of communications and outreach, told The Vindicator in an email that the Ohio EPA’s Emergency Response Unit went to the scene and found gasoline and stormwater runoff flowing from multiple areas within the facility’s underground storage tank vault.

Heavy rain caused the gasoline to flow onto the street, storm sewer and nearby Bear’s Den Run. The owner of the facility was contacted but has yet to respond to calls from Ohio EPA or the city of Youngstown, Boyer stated in a late Wednesday email.

“Ohio EPA, along with the Youngstown Fire Department and city personnel, established multiple containment measures to control the flow of gasoline and impacted water from the facility and material entering the waterway,” Boyer said.

The Ohio EPA’s investigation “determined a failure of one of the three underground storage tanks, which allowed rainwater to enter the tank and force gasoline to the surface,” the email stated.

The Ohio EPA and city on Wednesday “furthered the cleanup effort by removing the remaining gasoline in the other two tanks, one of which also appeared to be leaking. A temporary collection system was installed to control water in the vault area due to more forecasted rain and allow continuous removal of the residual gasoline. The water discharging from the system is being properly treated as wastewater, the release continues.

There are currently no water quality issues associated with this release in Bear’s Den Run and no impacts to wildlife within the creek or Mill Creek Park, Boyer said.

Personnel from the Bureau of Underground Storage Tank Regulations Corrective Action Unit visited the location Wednesday and are “working with the city to determine the next steps for tank removal.”

OTHER AGENCIES

The fire department contacted Mahoning County HazMat, but because the fire department had contained the spill, HazMat did not respond, the fire department report states.

The fire department also called Kurt Kollar with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, advised him of the actions the fire department had taken and “asked if there was anything more we could do.”

Kollar advised the fire department to check a part of Mill Creek Park that Kollar specified by sending a “drop pin” to the fire official’s cell phone. The location was checked and there was no evidence that the product had gotten into that area, the report states.

The fire department texted photos of the area to Kollar, who said he would respond to the scene, and a clean-up crew from America Waste was going to be contacted to respond to the location. Kollar and the cleanup crew arrived later, and Kollar oversaw the cleanup.

The city’s wastewater department also was contacted and told that some of the product may have entered the storm sewer. An employee advised that the wastewater department would “keep watch” for the product.

Abby Beniston from the Wastewater Department also contacted Youngstown Fire Department Battalion Chief Fred Beehler, and said she and Youngstown Deputy Director of Public Works Chuck Shasho were contacting a clean-up company, and she was also in contact with the Ohio EPA. Beniston and Shasho later came to the site.

Fire officials also contacted the owner of the former gas station, who said he would not be coming to the site because he is in the Chicago area. He said he would try to have someone respond to the scene but fire officials were not informed of anyone coming to the scene, the report states.

The Youngstown Street Department put slag down on Bear’s Den Road to prevent the roadway from becoming slick from the product, the roadway was reopened later with the permission of Kollar, and the fire department was able to leave the scene.