By Jeff Lipton
The car broadsided the Morania Oil Company of Long Island truck at about 9:35 a.m. on Oct. 10, rupturing some piping underneath the belly of the tanker truck, authorities said. A passenger in the car, identified by police as Cyla Stern, was injured and taken to Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre for treatment, officials said.
The driver of the truck, identified as Paul Epstein, told police that he was attempting to cross Peninsula Boulevard when his view was obstructed by some bushes, officials said. The car, a 2001 Lincoln, was traveling west when it ran into the truck, police said. This caused the truck to leak between 50 and 60 gallons of oil.
Police closed Peninsula Boulevard for more than an hour in both directions as authorities arrived to help in the cleanup. Workers from Sanitary District One in North Lawrence as well as a local landscaping company were passing by when they decided to help out as well, officials said. By using shovels and other equipment, they helped stop the oil before it seeped into the sewer system, according to Ray Grawin, an ex-chief of the Woodmere Fire Department.
They are the ones who stopped the spread [of the oil] from the stormwater system, said Grawin. They did this before we showed up. Everything is fine, thanks to those two outfits.
The Woodmere Fire Department, under the supervision of First Deputy Chief George Laakso, responded to the spill, as did the county Hazardous Materials unit. The police department's Emergency Services Unit, police from the Fourth Precinct, and officials from the Department of Environmental Conservation and the fire marshal also responded to the spill.
Ted Horishny, supervising fire inspector for the fire marshal's office, credited a driver for another bulk carrier, Mystic, who was passing by and helped to activate an emergency shut-off valve, minimizing the spill. It was a minimal spill, he said. I don't think it was even 50 gallons that spilled.
Horishny added that workers from the county's Department of Public Works then applied sand and swept up the rest of the mess so the road could be re-opened. Because of the quick work, the spill did not affect the roadway or the stormwater drain.
There were a lot of good Samaritans in this one. I've learned that more often than not, people will stop to help, Horishny said.
