Fuel Spill Response on West Dover Road

A pickup truck with a 275-gallon oil tank in its truck bed slowly spilled its oil onto Echo Place, requiring the response of a fire engine and Toms River Office of Emergency Management investigators at 10:42 a.m. Wednesday.

Echo Place, a residential West Dover road off Bananier Drive, was closed briefly due to the fuel spill. Office of Emergency Management officials were trying to locate the owner of the truck, parked outside 1223 Echo Place, at 11:35 a.m.

The half full oil tank, tied down and laying on its side in the bed of a red Ford F-350 pickup, was dripping its contents onto the street near a storm drain, said Paul Daley of the towship Office of Emergency Management. The tank is the kind that would house heating oil for a home.

Station 26 of Toms River Fire District 1 responded and found the oil tank leaking from the side it was laying on, said John H. Lightbody, chief of Fire District 1.

"The spill was contained with Speedy Dry applied to the roadway and exterior of the truck, to protect the storm basin," Lightbody said. He said Speedy Dry is applied to absorb oil quickly and resembles cat litter.

The leak was not due to a motor vehicle accident, Lightbody said. No injuries were reported.

Officials arrived to find no one in the truck and an hour after the fuel leak was called in, the owner of the privately owned truck had to arrive from South Jersey, Daley said.

The initial call at 10:42 a.m. was thought to be a spill of the diesel fuel from the truck, but upon arrival responders found the oil tank stored in the truck bed, Lightbody said.

Daley said he suspects the fuel did not enter the nearby storm drain, but the roadway is damaged from the steady drip of oil. "This eats away at the road," Daley said, adding that officials arrived to find evidence of older spills nearby.

Daley said the township is investigating whether summonses are warranted and will work with the Toms River Department of Public Works to examine whether  the road needs repairs.