Short Stop store open; gas pumps down

Van Wert independent/submitted information

Tyler’s Short Stop convenience store is now open, while workers have taken a number of steps to ensure no further gasoline leaks into sanitary and storm sewers.

Van Wert County Emergency Management Director Rick McCoy said environmental workers have dug wells on Main Street in front of Short Stop to allow underground gasoline to migrate into, and fill the wells. The wells have removable caps that workers can use to periodically siphon fuel out into a haz-mat vacuum vehicle for disposal.

According to McCoy, environmental workers will monitor the wells over the weekend and also check the sewer lines, which are now clear of fuel.

Old clay tiles that were under the Short Stop property and also crossed under Main Street have been cemented shut so no further contaminated fuel can leave the service station property.

Workers from the State Fire Marshal’s Office-Bureau of Underground Storage Tank Regulations (BUSTR) and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency will return to Van Wert this coming Tuesday to meet with McCoy and the Short Stop owner to confirm the cleanup process is going well and that no gasoline is leaving the property.

No timeline has been set for the owner to install new underground fuel lines from the tanks to the pumps, but the gasoline pumps will be out of service until the project is completed.

BUSTR’s investigation indicates that between 2,000 and 4,000 gallons of gasoline was leached into the soil at the site.