APRIL 2, 2015
BORNE, MASSACHUSETTS
A small explosion shortly after noon on Thursday, April 2,
at the Bourne South Rotary testified to the dangers inherent in spilling 5,000
gallons of gasoline, as a fuel tanker did at the rotary last week.
Edmund J. Coletta Jr., a spokesman for the state Department
of Environmental Protection, said vapors emanating from soil contaminated by
the gasoline spill exploded about 12:15 PM in the claw of a backhoe excavating
the damaged soil.
Mr. Coletta said no one was injured by the explosion.
Workers at the scene used nearby soil to quench the resulting flames.
But the spokesman said the workers also decided to suspend
work for the day.
The excavation work of contaminated soil at the rotary is
set to continue Friday, April 3, before concluding for the weekend, Mr. Coletta
said.
Workers have been unearthing a hole measuring 40 by 100
feet, he said. The hole has reached a depth of up to 17 feet, although the
average depth is about eight feet.
Project workers are using their sight and sense of smell, as
well as chemical tests, to determine if soil is contaminated.
The workers have been backfilling the hole with clean soil
as they remove the contaminated soil, Mr. Coletta said.
Project workers are scheduled to shift early next week to
Joint Base Cape Cod, where the contaminated soil has been stockpiled. After
preparing that soil for transfer, the workers may return to the rotary by the
middle of next week to conclude any remaining cleanup.
Before the noontime explosion, the workers had been on their
way by the end of the day to removing an estimated 2,500 cubic yards of
contaminated soil from the rotary.
The gasoline began spilling into the soil of the rotary
shortly after 11 PM Tuesday, March 24, when a tractor trailer carrying 11,500
gallons of gasoline crossed the Bourne Bridge heading south, continued straight
into the infield of the rotary and turned over onto its right side.
State police said that the tanker proceeded to spill about
5,000 gallons of gasoline. The remaining 6,500 gallons in the tanker were
safely extracted.
The crash forced the closure of the rotary and the Bourne
Bridge for about nine hours.
Mr. Coletta said that the spilled gasoline went into the
ground and onto the rotary. Some of the gasoline went into catch basins feeding
a stormwater drain that empties into the Cape Cod Canal.
State police subsequently filed charges against the driver
of the tanker truck that crashed at the rotary last week.
Thomas B. Medeiros, 47, of Westport, has been charged with
negligent operation of a motor vehicle, operating at a speed greater than
reasonable and proper, and failure to stay within marked lanes.
The charges were the result of an investigation conducted by
the Massachusetts State Police barracks in Bourne and the State Police
Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Section.
Following the crash, Mr. Medeiros was taken to Tobey
Hospital in Wareham with minor injuries.
TBM Trucking of Westport, which has the same address as Mr.
Medeiros, owns the tractor (cab) involved in the accident. The trailer (tank)
is owned by DJ Cronin Inc. of Seekonk.
Mr. Coletta said the state considers DJ Cronin the
responsible party for the spill, and will be billing the company for the cost
of the cleanup. No estimate of that potential cost was available on April 2.
As of Tuesday, 1,700 cubic yards of contaminated soil had
been removed from the rotary.
Mr. Coletta said 1,200 of those cubic yards would be sent to
an asphalt batching facility for reuse, with the remaining 500 headed for a
hazardous materials disposal facility.
State and Bourne police have enforced restrictions on travel
over the bridge and around the rotary as the clean-up work has continued.
Bourne Police Sergeant Brandon M. Esip said Thursday, April
2, that congestion has been most pronounced during the morning commute from 7
to 9 AM and the afternoon commute from 3 to 6 PM.
“During these times, on-Cape traffic can back up to Exit 3
[Buzzards Bay], creating about a 30-minute increase in travel times over the
Bourne Bridge,” Sgt. Esip said. “Coming from the East Rotary [Belmont Circle]
during these times, traffic can back up to the Route 25 ramp from the East
Rotary.”
Although police observed more congestion in the initial days
after the accident, it appears commuters are finding alternate routes, and
police have not seen traffic backing up onto Scenic Highway or Main Street in
Buzzards Bay in recent days.
Traveling from Sandwich Road or MacArthur Boulevard has seen
minor to moderate delays when approaching the Bourne South rotary, Sgt. Esip
said.
Shortly after 9 AM last Friday, March 27, the brakes on a
refrigerator truck crossing the Bourne Bridge caught on fire, and a small
amount of diesel fuel spilled onto the bridge.
But neither Sgt. Esip nor Bourne Deputy Fire Chief David
Cody, the latter of which responded to the call, said the incident had a
significant impact on congestion.
Deputy Chief Cody said a police officer used an extinguisher
to snuff the brake fire without incident, and that traffic continued to move
over the bridge.
In the hours following the spill, Mr. Coletta said, the
Coast Guard observed gasoline on the surface of the canal water near the drain
pipe.
But the Coast Guard found that sunlight and the canal
current dissipated that gasoline.
Mr. Coletta said on April 2 that gasoline subsequently has
been spotted in a wetland area on the east side of the Bourne Bridge off
Sandwich Road. Workers plan to vacuum gasoline-contaminated sediment from the
area on Monday, April 6.
Source: www.capenews.net