Cleanup crews worked to remove diesel fuel from the Cuyahoga River after a leak from a Sherwin-Williams manufacturing plant early Monday morning.
Around 5:40 a.m., the company discovered “an acute diesel fuel line failure” in the permanent site generator at the Sherwin-Williams Breen Technology Center on Canal Road, according to a statement from Sherwin-Williams.
Cleveland Division of Fire’s HAZMAT Response Team responded to a call of the leak around 9 a.m. after Sherwin-Williams personnel identified the generator leaked between 60 and 100 gallons of diesel into a storm drain that empties into the Cuyahoga River.
Crews worked near the riverbank with booms and skimmers to remove the fuel from the water, Lieutenant Mike Norman with Cleveland Division of Fire said.
“They use booms, which are floating barriers that will be on the river to contain the source. They use skimmers, which are … absorbent materials that they'll use to draw the, the fuel back to the shoreline.”
The cold winter weather may make cleanup efforts a bit easier, Norman said.
“The spill was fairly close to the bank, and they were able, with their booms and their skimmers, to recover the fuel,” he said. “And fortunately, it being the wintertime, there's a lot of ice on the river [and] the river is moving fairly slowly, so that bought them more time and aided in their recovery.”
Upon learning the extent of the leak, Sherwin-Williams said it notified the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard in addition to the city’s fire department, according to the statement.
In the statement, Sherwin-Williams said it expects to have about 90% of the cleanup finished Monday and has hired HEPACO Environmental, a hazardous materials remediation company, to complete the cleanup.
The cause of the spill remains under investigation, according to the statement, and Sherwin-Williams said it is prepared to either repair or replace the generator if needed.
