Incident Report Subject: NEW ZEALAND - CHRISTCHURCH, FIRE SERVICE WORKS TO CLEAR A MILLION LITRES OF LEAKED FUEL Date of Email report: Thu 06/03/2014 Report Detail:
A massive fuel leak in Lyttelton will take a long time to clear, the Fire Service says. Police evacuated 19 households in Cressy Terrace, Park Terrace and Brittan Terrace after a cliff collapsed causing damage to a fuel storage tank at the port. The Fire Service says the landslip dislodged the valve of the tank, spilling fuel into a surrounding catchment area and leaving the strong smell of diesel wafting through the portside suburb. The Fire Service's Steve Kennedy, who is at the site of the leak this morning, said the majority of the fuel has now been contained. The assistant area commander said they were setting up operations this morning to transfer the leaked fuel into tanks. "The operation is going to take some time because we're looking in excess of probably a million litres of fuel that we need to transfer," he told TV ONE's Breakfast. He said if people do smell fuel fumes in the area they should close their doors and windows. Council engineers will be assessing the damage to the hillside and affected homes today. Police say the evacuations were precautionary, and were in response to the possibility of further slips in the area. The cliff collapse comes after Christchurch was battered with a heavy deluge of rain.
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