By Carol Tannenhauser
The FDNY got it wrong by a 0, according to the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.
On Wednesday, December 28, the FDNY sent out a report to the media, reading:
Call received: 1907
Location: 36 West 66th St
Call type: Diesel Spill
Approx. 700 gallons of diesel spilled at a construction site
Disposition: No injuries reported. Hazmat on scene. Leak is capped and being mitigated
Lots of outlets, including West Side Rag, reported it, but the Rag reached out to other sources as well, including the New York City Department of Environmental Protection. On Thursday, December 29, we received a reply:
“Just to clarify, it was 70 gallons. NOT 700 (the tanks on those cranes don’t have the capacity to hold that much fuel),” wrote Douglas C. Auer of the NYC Environmental Protection press office. “The builder was ordered to immediately clean up the sidewalk and street, and have all drums of diesel removed via a registered environmental contractor.”
We have reached out to the FDNY for a comment.
I’d check more sources. That sounds like an awfully big mistake! That said even if it’s 70 gallons that’s a whole lot in a residential community. Glad no one came by with a lit match!!
Diesel takes a whole lot more than a match to ignite, it isn’t gasoline.
70 NOT 700!
NOW I feel ever so much better… also: it’s no longer 9 degrees out
So there’s that too.
Excelsior!
(to quote the immortal Shep.)
Thanks for taking the trouble to run this. We can all imagine one 50 gallon barrel spilling- bad enough! – but imagining 14 of them spilling in one block was kind of nightmarish…
This makes sense. A long haul tractor trailer pulling 80,000 lbs at 75mph has a fuel capacity of 120-300 gallons depending on size and number of tanks (1 or 2). Why would a crane which is using the fuel to turn and power the winch need anywhere near that capacity, let alone 3-6 times that?