Vandalism likely caused 1000 litre oil spill at district office

KELOWNA – An apparent act of vandalism at a Regional District office has caused a massive amount of used motor oil, diesel and transmission fluid to spill onto a parking lot Friday morning.

Andy Brennan of the Regional District says operation crews arriving at 6 a.m. found the spill.

“It seems like somebody overnight put a water hose into that tank, which caused approximately 1000 litres of waste diesel and oil to spill into our parking lot,” he says.

Brennan says a neighbour saw a man who appeared to be sleeping in the small forest behind the parking lot emerge at around 5 a.m.

“We believe it was deliberately done,” Brennan says.

A private contractor is currently on site using absorbent material and sand to contain the spill and Brennan says the Kelowna Fire Department has confirmed that only a minor amount of oil made it into the sewer drains.

“We’ve got various covers on the drains and we have vacuum trucks that will suck up the sand and oil and dispose of it properly.”

The site is not secured at night so the vandals did not have to break in and although the waste tank is covered, it is not locked. Brennan says that is likely to change.

“The district will look at installing a lock on the tank as well as security cameras,” he says. “It’s not something you’d ever anticipate happening but clearly now we need to do that.”

Cleanup of the site is expected to take the majority of the day but Brennan says there shouldn’t be any lasting effects to either the lot, the sewer or surrounding areas.

RCMP are investigating.

%%Embed1%%

To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.