An extra alarm fire that heavily damaged a Jerome auto repair shop is out, but the trouble isn’t over.
Springfield Fire Chief Ken Fustin says containers storing waste oil from Merlin melted and hundreds of gallons escaped into storm sewers late Monday night.
“We think it released somewhere between 500 and 1,000 gallons of waste oil that came out of the building, found a storm drainage tile right outside the garage doors,” he said.
Fustin says crews stopped the oil from coming out of the building, but hundreds of gallons had already escaped into the sewers. It escaped because the containers holding the material melted.
The sewers empty into a small creek that runs under Chatham Road and through Washington Park. As of Tuesday afternoon, the oil had made its way into the Washington Park lagoon, raising concerns about the area’s wildlife population.
The fire was called in shortly after 9:30 Monday night, several crews responded. Springfield Fire Chief Ken Fustin says his crew is trained to react to such emergencies.
“The fire department worked with the IEPA to start ‘boom-diking’ at about 1am,” Fustin says.
Springfield Park District Executive Director Derek Harms says the park will be closed to vehicular traffic until further notice while crews clean up. Harms says they are working with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to mitigate any harm to waterfowl who call the park’s lagoons home.
“IDNR is taking the lead but we also have qualified staff from the zoo to help as well,” says Harms
No one was injured, but damage estimates currently stand at around $500,000: $400,000 to the building, $100,000 to its contents. Its cause is still under investigation.