UPDATE | Oily spill in Mahoning River near downtown Warren being contained

WARREN

The oil spill that got into the Mahoning River this morning appears to have made it there by a similar route as the one early last month, but apparently from the other side of town.

The oily substance, possibly mixed with diesel fuel, could be seen running into the river through a large storm drain on the opposite side of the river from Perkins Park near downtown this morning.

The drain apparently travels to that location from the city’s West Side, Safety Service Director Enzo Cantalamessa said. It’s too early to say how much oil leaked, but he said it apparently is not a small spill. Drinking water is not affected by it, he noted.

The hydraulic fluid that leaked into the Mahoning River from a storm pipe in early March was later traced to steel manufacturer Wheatland Tube on Dietz Road, which is about a mile east of the river in the Golden Triangle area on Warren’s East Side and in Howland.

While Warren firefighters and the Trumbull County HazMat team brought people and resources to the river to try to contain this morning’s spill, representatives from the Ohio EPA and Warren Water Pollution Control Department were traveling around the city looking for its origin.

From the area near the Buckeye Apartments, the river takes an eastward turn, passing close beside Courthouse Square downtown and then passing under South Street toward Main Avenue. The oil had an obvious gas smell where it exited the storm pipe.

Cantalamessa was standing in a yard between Tod Avenue Northwest and the river — across from Perkins Park — as personnel placed booms in the water near the storm pipe.

A resident of 8th floor of the Buckeye Apartments first spotted the oil on the river about 9:30 a.m. today and called 911, Cantalamessa said.

Firefighters also were working at the Main Avenue bridge just south of downtown, where they had placed booms in the river in an attempt to stop the oil from continuing downstream.

They had only a limited number of booms, however, and did not appear to be stopping all of of the oil. HazMat crews brought additional booms to that location around 1 p.m.