Warehouse fire causes huge oil spill in Swartspruit
The containment and clean-up activities by Drizit will limit the environmental impact
A major oil spill in the Swartspruit, caused by a fire in Isando, is currently being cleaned up by a hazmat team.
24-hour hazmat spill response company Drizit has been called in to deal with the spillage which entered Kempton’s storm water system following a warehouse fire on Thursday last week.
The fire broke out at GUD Filter’s distribution centre on the corner of Diesel and Industry roads around midnight. Firefighters battled until early morning to contain the blaze.
Several explosions occurred as the warehouse went up in flames.
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According to GUD’s PR co-ordinator, Charlenie Govender, the company called on Drizit, which deployed a team on site and started a clean-up on Friday morning at 8am. On Tuesday they have reached the section of the spruit at the intersection of CR Swart Drive and Besembos Street.
“Drizit established there was contamination of certain waterways in the area and immediately commenced containment and clean-up operations,” explained Govender. She added that clean-up activities would limit the environmental impact of the spillage.
According to her the contamination has been contained.
Govender pointed out that not all of the oil that blew up in the 210 litre metal drums on site ended up in the water system. “A large amount of the oil was contained on the site and is currently being removed by Drizit.”
Govender said the clean-up would continue until the contamination caused by the oil spillage had been removed.
