North Kingstown crews work to clean oil spill amid calls related to frigid weather
NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WJAR) — Its been a busy weekend for fire departments across Southern New England, responding to many calls related to the frigid weather.
Crews in North Kingstown worked to put down sand and other absorbing materials as about 20 gallons of oil and 100 gallons of water spilled onto Dry Bridge Road on Sunday.
Dry Bridge Road was closed down for a couple of hours while crews cleaned up the mess.
The fire department says they also responded to multiple calls today for broken pipes.
"We found a home heating oil truck that was at a repair facility here that in all likelihood due to the weather had severed a leak in the piping," North Kingstown Fire Chief Scott Kettelle said.
North Kingstown fire and police as well as the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management were on scene on Sunday afternoon.
Kettelle told NBC 10 News they were able to stop the leak from the truck, but traffic was not allowed to pass through as the 500-foot section of the road way was worked on.
DEM spokesperson Mike Healey said the North Kingstown Department of Public Works scraped the side of the road where oil had seeped into the dirt and collected it.
Kettelle said it was busy day for the department: they responded to two nursing homes for water issues.
At South County Nursing Home, the hot water pipes in the celling broke.
"And caused a ceiling collapse in a number of patient rooms - so no one was injured, patients were located to other areas of the building," he said.
An NBC 10 News crew saw staff on scene working to fix the issue and get the water back on.
Kettelle said they also went to Bayview Nursing Home because of sprinkler issues.
Meanwhile, with temperatures warming up from the cold snap, those out and about in Wickford said they are glad to see the frigid weather pass.
"It's a lovely day today compared to yesterdays freezing temperature," Stephanie Santilli of Wickford said.