Clean up crews say a chemical spill in the Don River was the product of a punctured underground fuel tank buried beneath an out-of use airfield.

Construction workers ruptured the tank Sunday while excavating the back lot of a Staples office supply store near Eglinton Ave. E. and Leslie St.

“They were aware of it and it was contained,” said Toronto Fire Capt. Mike Strapko. “The construction company made arrangements to have it pumped out Monday.”

When the site was pelted with heavy rain around 6 p.m., however, the tank began to leak a mixture of chemicals, including aviation fuel and kerosene, into the sewer system, which funnels into the Don River.

According to Toronto Police Const. Wendy Drummond, the fuel tank was buried under the site of a former airfield, which has been out of use for decades.

“It was a holding tank that could have been used to hold gas,” she said. “The actual chemicals are still being determined.”

When the fire department was notified of the spill, the hazardous materials team, along with Toronto Police and Toronto Works, began placing booms across the Don at the Keating Channel, close to where the river flows into Lake Ontario in the city’s east end, to contain and absorb the spill, Strapko said.

The Ministry of Environment and Environment Canada have also been called in to monitor the clean-up efforts, which are expected to wrap up sometime Monday morning.

“It’s routine for us to control these kind of spills that get into the waterways and sewer system . . . but this one has been a little unusual,” Strapko said. “It could have been much worse.”

There’s no word yet on how much fuel managed to seep into the river.

via Don fuel spill came from old airfield site – thestar.com.