Colorado Springs, CO : Witnesses sought in Colorado Springs police probe of tanker crash that caused fuel spill on Friday 26-08-2016

Police are searching for anyone who witnessed Friday's fuel tanker-truck crash that caused a fuel leak into a nearby creek, killing fish and contaminating the water.

In particular, police are looking for an individual who was at the scene on a bicycle, said Lt. Howard Black, spokesman for the Colorado Springs Police Department. Anyone with information should call 444-7000, he said.

The incident is being investigated by major accident unit detectives. No charges have been filed because the investigation is ongoing.

The truck's driver sustained serious, but not critical, injuries, Black said. Police believe speed was a factor in the crash.
At around 4 a.m. Friday, the truck hit a parked vehicle on Motor City Drive, causing it to roll on its side and leak about 8,000 gallons of fuel. Much of the fuel spilled into the street's drainage system, which feeds into Fountain Creek, according to the Colorado Springs Fire Department on Friday.

Officials do not yet know how many fish died as a result of the spill, said Frank McGee, a Colorado Parks and Wildlife area wildlife manager.

Crews have been conducting tests, which have included sampling fish in areas both downstream and upstream of the spill, he said.

"There were no dead fish upstream of the spill, and of course, we found dead fish downstream of the spill," he said, adding that fish may still be dying. Often, a fish kill is followed by fish continuing to die over a period of 4 to 7 days.

And the recent heavy rainfall may have had an impact.

"The good news is that more water means more dilution, so those pollutants are not as concentrated and so they may end up not harming as many fish," McGee said. "But it's also possible that the fish that did die washed downstream and can't be found now."

Fish kills occasionally occur for a variety of reasons throughout the state, McGee said. In this case, "gasoline and diesel fuel are not good for aquatic life, and it is very common when those substance enter a stream that the fish living in that stream die," he said.

He added, "When a company or a person discharges something into a stream that results in fish dying ... basically, they are taking the state's wildlife."

Immediately after the spill, officials cautioned against people or pets coming into contact with the water. On Tuesday, Danielle Oller, spokeswoman for El Paso County Public Health, said the advisory had been lifted.

After the spill, a team from the Environmental Protection Agency led a response that included "visiting water intakes to assess impacts and performing general reconnaissance of the impacted water bodies," according to an incident report.

On Saturday, the day after the spill, "small amounts of sheen were witnessed below the sewer outfall and downstream to just below the confluence of Bear and Fountain Creeks," according to the report.

The EPA collected water samples and observed the area "to determine the presence or absence of petroleum hydrocarbons," the results of which were released Thursday.

The results indicated that the hydrocarbons were present the day of the spill, but by the following day, levels had decreased significantly - from 3.27 parts per million to 0.2 parts per million at the location in Fountain Creek Regional Park where the highest amount of diesel range organics were found.

And the contaminant didn't make it very far from where the spill occurred: "Little to no hydrocarbons were detected downstream of Fountain Creek Regional Park on either day."

Source :
Witnesses sought in Colorado Springs police probe of tanker crash that caused fuel spill