LIMA — Both the Shawnee Township and American Township fire departments are now in better position to handle oil-based spills in local waterways after a donation from Husky Energy Lima.
Each department received a trailer outfitted with containment boom equipment designed to help contain and divert oil slicks on top of bodies of water, such as rivers, streams or lakes. The total value of each trailer and its contents is around $18,000, according to Shawnee Township Fire Department Chief Todd Truesdale. Each department received enough equipment to create a 300-foot containment line in the water, allowing any spill to be trapped and diverted to an area where a vacuum truck can safely remove it.
Each shift from each department trained with the equipment in 2015
“It’s something we didn’t have the capability to do before,” Truesdale said. “Over the last year or so, Husky provided training to where we trained together jointly with American Township Fire Department and Husky to learn how to deploy these containment booms, both near and far shore. If something gets in the [Ottawa] River, we’ll be able to contain it and get vac trucks out and stop it at that point so it doesn’t get up the river.”
With American Township Fire Department located just up river from Shawnee, each department has a designated area to cover in the event of a spill or leak from the pipelines leading to the Husky refinery. However, the trailer’s mobility also allows the equipment to be deployed in other locations as needed in the event of a tanker truck spill or excessive manure runoff from fields.
“It’s a huge benefit to the community with all the petroleum products that we have, whether it’s in a pipeline or a storage tank,” Truesdale said. “It’s a huge resource that no one in the community had the resources to get before this donation.”
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