Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (Nov 01/02) - A substantial fuel spill at a Fort Simpson gas station on Oct. 23 resulted from tampering with a gas pump in disrepair, according to fire chief Pat Rowe.

"Somebody apparently went by in the middle the night and turned on the switch at the pump, zeroing the metre," Rowe said. "(An employee) went in the morning and turned on the power to the pumps. As soon as it was connected, away it went. Four-hundred-and-fifty litres later, she ... shut the pump off."

The spill was not reported immediately, which is of concern to Rowe. The fire department responded after being alerted by concerned passersby around 10:40 a.m., nearly two hours after the gas station opened for business.

Firefighters spent about two hours dousing the gas with a chemical foam that kept the fuel from igniting, and then absorbing what they could. Gasoline does tend to evaporate quickly, Rowe noted.

The overall clean-up is the property owner's responsibility, he added.

After the pump was repaired, the gas station reopened for business later in the afternoon.

Leo (Yanny) Cordero, who owns the gas station, said the spill wasn't reported from his business because "we didn't know."

"It wasn't that much of a spill. It was just a little bit," Cordero contended.

Although he admitted the pump had been broken "for a long time," he said "it's all fixed now."

Ken Lambert, Deh Cho environmental officer for the territorial Department of Resources, said the incident was still under investigation as of Monday. It was premature to say whether charges would be laid, he noted.

With that volume of fuel on the ground and a propane tank, a diesel tank and underground gas tanks nearby, the situation could have turned deadly, Rowe acknowledged.

"If there was one spark, yeah, we would have been very busy for a while," he said. "It would be a good-sized fire ... It definitely had the potential of a very serious incident."