Cooking oil spill from Ukiah Safeway prompts creek cleanup

A Ukiah Safeway employee triggered an extensive cleanup operation Monday when she washed 55 gallons of used cooking oil into a storm drain that flows into a fish-bearing creek leading to the Russian River, local environmental officials said.

The effort to contain the spill continued Tuesday, said Wayne Briley, operations chief of the Redwood Empire Hazardous Incident Team, REHIT.

Using hundreds of absorbent pads on the surface of the creek, responders were able to capture an estimated 99 percent of the oil, he said.

Briley said he hadn’t seen any dead fish, but on Monday, he observed fingerlings swimming under the oil slick, trying to reach the surface. State Fish and Wildlife officials said the fish were not salmon or steelhead trout, Briley said.

The incident was reported by a Waugh Lane area resident Monday at about 2 p.m. Ukiah Valley firefighters were first on the scene and immediately began placing absorbent pads on the contaminated water to stop its progress, he said.

Ukiah Public Works staff traced the oil through storm drains back to Safeway by using a fiber-optic camera, Briley said.

The spill is believed to have occurred sometime Monday morning.

It’s unclear whether the Safeway employee purposely dumped the barrel of oil behind the store, Briley said.

“We think the person actually tipped over the drum of oil into the storm drain,” he said.

The woman then used a power washer to flush the oil down the storm drain, he said.

Fish and Wildlife officials are expected to cite Safeway over the spill, Briley said.

Safeway also will be billed for the cost of the cleanup, which drew about 40 responders from multiple agencies. The cost is not yet known.

Briley said he hopes Safeway will also educate its employees about proper disposal methods.

“I think people think it goes to the sewer,” he said. But they’re mistaken. “Storm drains go to creeks or rivers.”

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MendoReporter.