Oil spill causes chaos in village

October 1993

The people of Wellingtonbridge were made virtual prisoners for 24 horus last week after a bizarre and chaotic incident closed approach roads to the village.

Three of the roads had to be closed for some time after a major oil spillage – which occurred at approximately 4 p.m. on Thursday – prevented motorists or pedestrians from using the main roads around the south-west Wexford village.

Gardai at Bannow say the highly-dangerous scenario was the results of a hydraulic oil spillage from a machine operated by a transport company. The name of the company is known to Gardai but is being withheld pending investigations.

Both New Ross and Wexford units of the fire brigade rushed to the scene after receiving the emergency call on Thursday evening. The oil spillage extended out the Wexford road from Wellingtonbridge for 1.5 miles, out the Ballycullane Road for three quarters of a mile, and for two miles in the direction of New Ross.

A spokesperson for the Fire Brigade said ‘it was chaotic. Parts of the road were absolutely impassable and you couldn’t even walk on it in places. It was terrible.’

Both units worked through the night to clear the roads.

This involved spraying by hand with a chemical detergent to break up the oil.

The roads were then hosed down and later gritted by Wexford County Council, to restore safety for motorists.

‘We were lukcy that not a lot of traffic was around,’ said the Fire Brigade spokesperson, who added that they finished their emergency operation at around 7 a.m. on Friday.