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The Oakville Fire Department and other authorities have confirmed that a large oil spill at the Vac Aero International Inc. facility in central Oakville Sunday afternoon was caused when a pipe burst.
Officials initially estimated 25,000-35,000 litres of cooling oil escaped the breach, which happened at 2:30 p.m. at the company’s 1371 Speers Rd., property.
Vac Aero International Inc. President Scott Rush said Tuesday the figure is closer to 31,000 litres.
“We had an unfortunate equipment failure Sunday afternoon and that caused an oil spill. It is quench oil, it’s used in one of our processes here,” said Rush.
“The spill was identified relatively quickly and contained by our people here as much as they could. We called in an emergency clean-up company right away. At this point it is under control and it was under control as quickly as possible after it happened.”
Rush said Vac Aero, which employs around 85 people in Oakville and provides heat-treating services to a range of customers, is taking every possible step to clean up the spill and noted corrective actions would be taken to minimize the chance of it happening again.
Rush acknowledged a small amount of oil got into a nearby creek.
In addition to the environmental and industrial services provider Quantum Murray, which was hired by Vac Aero, response teams from the Town of Oakville, Halton Region and the Oakville Fire Department responded to the Vac Aero facility and the impacted creek area to help clean up the spill.
“We were asked to come in and assist with the diking of the nearby creek that runs just east of Third Line and runs down through Appleby College,” said Oakville Deputy Fire Chief Brian Durdin.
“We put down absorbent pads and diking material in the creek to try and stop this stuff from flowing into the lake.”
Quantum Murray brought in a special truck to suck up and contain the oil.
Town staff said members of the Town’s Roads and Works Department visited the site Monday and were satisfied with the clean-up work.
Halton Region’s Commissioner of Public Works Jim Harnum said the Region’s response team began its clean-up efforts when notified about the spill at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday.
“An undetermined amount of oil entered into the wastewater system and traveled to the Southwest Wastewater Treatment Plant,” he said in an email.
“Regional staff notified the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC), and continue to monitor the plant to assess the potential impact on the treatment processes and any potential discharge to the environment.”
Harnum said public works staff is containing the oil at the plant and a specialized environmental contractor has been engaged to clean up the substance.
As of Monday evening Harnum said clean up efforts are ongoing.
“We continue to work collaboratively with the company, the Town of Oakville, and other agencies to protect Halton’s water and wastewater systems,” he said.
Lindsay Davidson of the MOECC also said Monday evening that clean-up work at the site is continuing.
“Containment measures are in place and are preventing downstream impacts,” she said.
“Oil has been pumped from the creek and the onsite storm sewers. The ministry will continue to monitor progress and effectiveness of the clean-up work.”
Davidson said a sheen was noticed in the creek, but so far they have not received any information about impacted wildlife.
While Rush could not say how much this incident will cost his company, he noted the price tag for the clean-up will be significant.
Rush would not comment on why the Halton Region and Oakville Fire Department were not called to the site until 8:30 p.m., around six hours after the spill had taken place.
“We acted in accordance with our spill response procedures,” said Rush. “They were notified as soon as we thought it was appropriate.”
Davidson said the MOECC would be investigating the timeline of when Vac Aero reported the spill to authorities.
She said the MOECC became aware of the spill at 9:30 p.m. Sunday when the Oakville Fire Department reported it to the Province’s Spills Action Centre.
Davidson said the ministry would also examine the company’s spill contingency plans.
The Oakville Fire Department said no one was injured during the oil spill.
Courtesy of insidehalton.com
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