Source not determined for oil slick in stream

An oil slick on Kenduskeag Stream kept crews from the Bangor Fire Department busy for two hours Thursday afternoon trying to find its source.

The Fire Department called in the Maine Department of Environmental Protection which sent a man with an emergency response vehicle. It appeared that the slick was caused by about 10 gallons of No. 2 or diesel fuel, said Thomas W. Varney, of the DEP.

“We turned it over to the DEP,” said Assistant Chief Frank Dinsmore. “We’d pretty much isolated the source to the area behind the Federal Building.” The building on Harlow Street backs onto the stream.

The Fire Department was first notified about 1:30 p.m. when somebody noticed a slick in the Kenduskeag Stream at Franklin Street.

“We sent crews up and down the stream. There didn’t appear to be any damage. But there was a heavy smell of fuel oil,” Dinsmore said.

The heavy smell indicates that at least some of the contaminent was evaporating, Varney said. But the evaporation rate depends on the conditions, and the conditions Thursday afternoon were not ideal. So, he said some of the fuel could be expected to emulsify rather than evaporate.

“I checked up and down the stream,” he said. “I couldn’t find anyplace where that stuff was coming into the stream. It probably was a one time occurrence.

“It could have been that a truck with a leaking saddle tank parked over a storm drain and with the showers the fuel flushed out