Audio included below
A coordinated multi-agency response to an oil product release detected Thursday afternoon, July 31, into Muchinippi and Calico creeks in Logan County helped to swiftly stop the flow of hazardous contamination into the bodies of water.
Lakeview firefighters were first to respond to the Muchinippi Creek bridge on County Road 87 about 4:20 p.m. and set up incident command where a heavy oil slick — first noticed by a passerby — appeared on the water’s surface.
Logan County Emergency Management Agency, Logan County Hazardous Material Team, Top’s Towing, Auglaize County EMA, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency assisted with efforts to find and stop the contamination source.
Teams were deployed north and south of the bridge to find the source of the contamination, which was ultimately traced to an abandoned oil well closed around 1950 in Auglaize County a few miles from the incident site, Matt Stonerock with the LC Haz-Mat Team and director of environmental health with the Logan County Health District said.
Listen to Stonerock discuss the incident.
Auglaize County officials stopped the leak at the source.
A dike was placed across the creek, and equipment was brought in to help stop the flow of contamination into the creek.
Several orange hard booms and white sock booms with netting to capture the oil were utilized at various locations in the creeks, haz-mat officials said. Tops Towing provided absorbent materials at points where oil was found to be entering the creek.
Oil had been discharged into the creek from a 16-inch field tile located about a half mile north of the C.R. 87 bridge, from a ditch and culvert along County Road 17 and from other locations, officials said. While the ditch itself is county-maintained, Stonerock said, the oil traveled under private property from its source in Auglaize County.
Some 500 to 2,000 gallons of oil may have been released into the creeks, Stonerock estimates.
No fish or wildlife kills have been reported as of Friday morning, officials said.
It is not known how long the oil had been contaminating the creeks before it was detected.
First responders were on scene until about midnight.
At this time, there is no immediate danger of contamination to water wells in the area, officials said.
Stonerock commended the quick and coordinated actions of the agencies involved, especially considering the limited access, dense vegetation and other challenges crews faced to get the haz-mat leaks into the creeks stopped.
“Everybody knew what to do,” which “played a huge part” in stopping the contamination quickly.
Ohio EPA and ODNR officials will be on scene today to assist with monitoring and clean-up.
The Logan County HazMat photos below show oil flowing from one of the points of discharge — a 16-inch field tile — into Calico Creek and into waters of the Muchinippi Creek at the C.R. 87 bridge located about half a mile north of the field tile.
Click here to read the Logan County Haz-Mat Team response summary.
Check back for updates on this developing story.
