Over 5000 litres of diesel spilled from a tipped tanker in Mudgee's CBD on Tuesday, but quick actions avoided contamination of the nearby Cudgegong River. Council and emergency services responded rapidly, blocking drains and extracting most of the diesel. An explosion occurred later as diesel was being transferred from the tanker, but no one was hurt. The general manager praised the response of all agencies involved in containing the spill and preventing an environmental disaster.

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Phone: (02) 6372 1455 Friday, January 17, 2014 WWW.MUDGEEGUARDIAN.COM.AU
By DARREN SNYDER
After more than 5000 litres of
diesel spilt from the tipped tanker
that stopped parts of Mudgee’s
CBD for over seven hours on
Tuesday, those involved in the
clean up are being praised for their
quick actions.
Yesterday Mid-Western
Regional Council general manager
Warwick Bennett confirmed there
had been no contamination of the
Cudgegong River as Council staff
and other environmental services
were quick to block drains as well
as stem the flow of diesel.
“I was impressed by all the gov-
ernment agencies and their
response to the accident,” he said.
“We were able to contain and
extract majority of the diesel and it
was disposed of correctly.”
Yesterday Council and other
environmental services were
extracting final remnants of diesel
from the bottom Douro Street
drains as well as cleaning all
underground pipes before they
were reopened to the Cudgegong
River.
Within minutes of the accident
occurring at the Market and Douro
Street roundabout on Tuesday,
emergency services had closed
roads, put diversions in place and
blocked drains.
After about three-and-a-half
hours mopping the accident
scene, an empty fuel tanker came
to decant excess diesel. As the
diesel transfer began a fireball
erupted and an explosion rang out
across the Mudgee CBD.
The explosion was put down to
a build up of static electricity but
as a precautionary measure sever-
al nearby offices were evacuated
and a 200-metre exclusion zone
created. This was a move support-
ed by Mr Bennett.
“There became a dangerous sit-
uation and the emergency services
made the right call,” he said.
“I was impressed by the way
everybody responded and people
moved on and evacuated quickly.
“From time to time we will have
incidents like this and we all have
to live with it.”
The general manager said there
was damage to the asphalt and
bitumen on Douro Street, covering
approximately 100 metres and
currently tests were being carried
out on Market Street to assess its
damage. If remediation work is
required, it is expected Council
will look to send a bill to the truck-
ing company.
ON THE JOB: Emergency services, council staff and others involved in mopping Tuesday’s accident scene are being praised for avoiding an environmental disaster.
PHOTO BY DARREN SNYDER 140114/DSSPILL/9591
Diesel disaster avertedRM2006932