By Eric Russell
Bangor Daily News
ELLSWORTH — A 55-gallon oil drum broke free from a truck’s trailer late Tuesday morning, spilling several gallons of the black liquid onto part of Route 1A in outer Ellsworth.
The spill shut down the southbound lane of the busy road shortly after 11 a.m. while Ellsworth police and fire officials responded.
“Apparently a contractor transporting hydraulic fluid had one drum break free from his trailer. It rolled off, struck the road and ruptured,” Fire Chief John Marshall said.
The barrel and liquid rolled off the side of the road and into the shoulder where firefighters used absorbent pads to sop up the fluid.
Marshall said officials from the state Department of Environmental Protection were called shortly after the incident to assess the spill, but it was relatively minor.
“Procedurally, they have to be called and now it’s their responsibility. We were just there to help clean up,” he said. “I don’t think it will be a big issue. The ground was pretty well frozen.”
The truck and trailer hauling the drums of hydraulic fluid belonged to Blanchard & Gray Inc. of Southwest Harbor. Marshall said it wasn’t immediately clear what caused one of the drums to come loose.
“It managed to stay more or less out of the road, so it could have been a lot worse, I guess,” the chief said.
The southbound lane reopened to traffic about an hour after the spill was first reported.
Copyright 2008 Bangor Daily News