Petroleum Incident in McKinleyville

A new hazardous materials incident involving petroleum has been reported to the California Office of Emergency Services.

According to a report published by the office, the incident took place at or near a residence in .

About one gallon of a substance described as “transformer oil” was released to the environment, according to the person who called in the report.

Here’s the description of the incident that was recorded by the Office of Emergency Services:

Per the reporting party, as a result of the recent winter storm, a tree fell during the storm and pulled down the power line which broke the overhead transformer and caused the release. The PCB content of the oil is unknown. The spill impacted a gravel road, and the rain carried the oil into a waterway which is a road side ditch that leads to Lindsay Creek. The contractor SJL is on site performing clean up. One quarter of the reported one gallon was unrecoverable in the ditch. The spill was discovered at 0800 hours and was stopped and contained at 0900 hours.

This was the second hazardous materials incident recorded by the Office of Emergency Services in the McKinleyville area this year and the ninth petroleum spill in the county overall.