Crews work to clean Cuyama River after crash spills 6,000 gallons of oil
Most of the 6,000 gallons of crude oil that was spilled into the Cuyama River in Santa Maria has been contained.
The Santa Barbara County Fire Department and California Department Fish and Wildlife worked through Saturday night to build two underflow dams to contain about 4,200 gallons of oil, according to fire Capt. Daniel Bertucelli.
A tanker truck carrying more than 6,000 gallons of crude oil overturned and crashed into the Cuyama River east of Santa Maria on Saturday, according to the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.
The crash took place on Highway 166, about 20 miles from Santa Maria.
Authorities were notified at approximately 6 a.m Saturday and, by 3 p.m. that day, all of the forward flow of oil was stopped at the U.S. National Forest’s Pine Canyon Station.
The driver was uninjured in the crash, fire Capt. Nikki Stevens said, but the crude oil began leaking from the tanker and heading downstream toward Twitchell Reservoir.
Crews set up a yellow containment boom just below the spill and use heavy equipment to build a dirt berm with two containment underflow dams to allow the water to flow through, according to the Santa Barbara County Fire Department. Absorbent pads were placed downstream of the berm to pick up the rest of the oil.
Personnel from multiple agencies — including the CHP, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Caltrans, the Santa Maria Valley Water Conservation District, which operates Twitchell Reservoir — assisted on the incident.
Pacific Petroleum was at the scene with four vacuum trucks to help clean up spilled oil, according to Bertucelli.
The Oiled Wildlife Care Network has been activated and reports of oiled wildlife are being investigated, according to a California Department Fish and Wildlife news release.
Correction: This story has been corrected to say crews built dams to contain about 4,200 gallons of oil.
This story was originally published March 23, 2020 at 2:16 PM.