A truck leaking hydraulic fluid caused a slippery mess on Harvard’s roadways on the morning of May 22. The truck, which belonged to Mitrano Removal Service in Shirley, was picking up dumpsters behind the Bromfield School when a hydraulic fluid line ruptured. As the truck returned to Shirley, it left a trail of fluid from the Bromfield School to the Ayer Road entrance to Route 2. The cleanup involved the Fire Department, the Department of Public Works, a representative from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, and a hazardous waste remediation crew from New England Disposal Technologies (NEDT) in Sutton.
Two members of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection inspect a drainage pond near the Bromfield School May 22, after a dumpster truck leaked hyrdaulic fluid behind the school. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Harvard firefighter Charlie Nigzus said that the Fire Department was called out at 6:41 a.m. by the Harvard police regarding a shiny, slippery substance on Ayer Road from the center of town to Route 2. Firefighters followed the fluid trail onto Route 2, exiting at Shirley Road, and ending at the Mitrano company, where one of the truck drivers told them about the ruptured line. Nigzus said the driver thought he had shut the fluid off when the line ruptured and hadn’t realized it was leaking onto the roads.
DPW Director Tim Kilhart said his workers sanded the affected roadways and swept the sand into 55-gallon drums that NEDT collected and disposed of. Kilhart said that the timing of the incident was unfortunate, because it occurred just before morning drop-off at the Bromfield School, and the fluid was picked up on the tires of cars and spread in both directions on Mass. Ave. as well as part of Bolton Road. He said the rain that fell that morning mixed with the fluid, which spread it farther onto the driveway and parking lots around Bromfield.
DPW workers and the NEDT crew set up containment booms around the catch basins in the Bromfield driveway and cleaned out the basins. The cleanup was monitored by a representative from the Department of Environmental Protection and was completed by day’s end. Kilhart said there are no concerns of contamination of either town wells or the pond. Town Administrator Tim Bragan said that bills from NEDT and the DPW will be submitted to Mitrano.
