2,500 gallon diesel fuel spills at Napoleon rail yard

9/17/2013

NAPOLEON -- About 2,500 gallons of diesel fuel spilled from a railroad locomotive today when a broken rail punctured its fuel tank, authorities said.

A Napoleon, Defiance & Western train was operating near Perry Street when the rail broke and struck the engine's fuel tank, piercing a hole roughly three inches square, Napoleon Fire Chief Robert Bennett said.

Fire crews dug a retaining pit to keep the fuel from escaping the accident site, the chief said. By early afternoon, he said, an environmental contractor had arrived to clean up the spill, with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency overseeing the scene.