By Everdeen Mason
The Dayton Daily News
CLARK COUNTY, Ohio — Crews from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency on Friday were unable to approach the still-smoldering debris at an oil company to test the soil, but officials expect no lasting environmental effects to the area.
Fire erupted at R.D. Holder Oil Company at 2219 Folk Ream Road around 11 a.m. Thursday as workers at the company transferred a liquid fuel into a tanker. Officials believe the fire started from a spark of static electricity.
Fifty agencies worked six hours to get the fire under control, using water from a number of area sources and foam. Ohio EPA officials said the water used caused runoff of oil and debris to flow into surrounding waterways.
“It doesn’t look like there will be any long-lasting environmental impact,” said Heather Lauer, Ohio EPA spokeswoman. “There is no indication that any oil got below the ground. The facility had a concrete pad and containment area where (oil) could be collected.”
Investigators were unable to get in the building to test the soil Friday because the building was still hot. A small fire rekindled at the site around 3 p.m., but Pike Twp. firefighters were able to swiftly put out the blaze.
“If the building isn’t sound, we can’t go in,” Lauer said.
“We don’t actually know how much oil has burned off.”
Some smoke and a strong stench of burned petroleum and tires remained, but officials recorded no spike in air pollution, according to the Regional Air Pollution Control Agency. Officials there said the monitors situated in the area did not pick up any abnormal readings.
Oil runoff was found in an unnamed tributary of Donnels Creek which runs behind R.D. Holder. Veolia Environmental Services of Dayton cleaned up the oil, set up booms in the water and dug a trench off the waterway to intercept any additional oil or runoff.
Viki Hyslop lives just a block away from the oil company and owns land the tributary runs through.
Copyright 2012 Dayton Newspapers, Inc.