Fuel spill drenches Darby elementary school
DARBY BOROUGH >> A fuel spill at Walnut Street Elementary School may stymie the start of the school year after approximately 150 gallons of diesel fuel wound up on the roof of the school after an equipment malfunction, officials said.
Darby Borough firefighters responded around 8 a.m. Wednesday to a flood of diesel fuel that had begun collecting in the intersection of Seventh and Spruce Streets in Darby Borough, just down the street from the school in the at 2200 block of South Sixth Street.
After pinpointing the fuel escaping from a rainwater drainage pipe up the street investigators found that an emergency generator system at the school had malfunctioned and the diesel had been pressurized to a point that it was pushed up a flue to the roof of the school, where it began collecting in a pool.
Eventually, the diesel fuel ran down the drainage pipe to the street, where it flowed downhill toward Darby Creek.
“We had two primary tasks,” said Darby Fire Chief Dan Traband. “Not letting the leak get into the creek, and also stopping the original leak.”
Traband said there was “definitely damage to the roof” of the school.
He added that Darby Borough “has shut down the school in advance.”
Students are still out on summer break; classes were slated to start Sept. 5. Traband said a staff in-service day next week might be affected. A call to Darby Borough Manager Mark Possenti was not returned Wednesday.
Traband said witnesses reported seeing a power surge on a PECO poll, a “small explosion” that he surmised may have tripped the emergency generator. Traband said PECO was on the scene Wednesday morning.
A representative from PECO said that they responded to an outage Wednesday morning and were on the scene repairing a problem with an unspecified piece of equipment on the utility pole. PECO maintained that the malfunctioning generator at the Walnut Street Elementary was owned and operated by the school, not the utility company.
The flue is designed to allow gaseous odors to escape through the vent pipe on the roof of the school. After the power outage, the diesel backup generator tripped and began running. However, instead of allowing just the fumes to escape through the vent pipe, the diesel fuel became pressurized to such a point where it climbed the twostory pipe and spilled onto the roof. Traband estimated that 150 gallons had spilled from the tank.
With the help of spill units from Sharon Hill Fire Company and Brookline Fire Company, which Traband said carry a large amount hazmat cleanup, and assistance by Yeadon Fire Company, the fuel was stopped before reaching both the creek and sewer lines.
An environmental cleaning company was at the school Wednesday, however it’s unclear the extent of the damage and how it might affect the start of the school year.