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Coast Guard Says Oak. Chemical Spill A False Alarm

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Dec 14, 2007 12:46 pm US/Pacific

Coast Guard Says Oak. Chemical Spill A False Alarm

 Environment & The Green Beat

OAKLAND (AP) ― The Oakland mayor's office and the Coast Guard say a factory fire released a small amount of cleaning solvent in a warehouse district - but that none of the chemicals ended up in San Francisco Bay.

Paul Rose, a spokesman for Mayor Ron Dellums, says the fire early Friday burned through containers with the solvent inside. Coast Guard spokeswoman Lieutenant Junior Grade Anya Hunter says a total of a half-gallon was released, but that it never escaped from the factory.

The Oakland fire department neutralized the agent with a foam spray, and city officials have confirmed that none of the solvent made it to the bay or to area estuaries.

The fire was a single-alarm blaze at an industrial warehouse in Oakland, about a mile from the bay. No one was injured.

Initial reports said as much as 24,000 gallons had spilled, but according to Rose and Hunter those reports were wrong.

The incident follows last month's oil spill, which killed thousands of birds and fouled miles of coastline. Experts say it could take years for the Bay ecosystem to recover from that event. 
 

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