Residents cope with aftereffects of tanker crash

Text By Andra Moss
Photo by Joe Kelly

Some were awakened by sirens, others by an alert of a power outage, but on Saturday, Nov. 5, homeowners along Maple Avenue soon realized that something very significant had occurred when the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department (NVFD) appeared at their doors, calmly directing them to leave the premises. A gasoline tanker had overturned on nearby Route 44 and its entire contents—8,200 gallons of fuel—was gushing, uncontrolled, towards their homes. 

“They sprang into action pretty quickly,” said resident Joe Kelly. “Maple Avenue was swarming with emergency vehicles, and we were told we would have to be evacuated.” 

Visitors staying at the Manor House Inn at 69 Maple Ave. were similarly roused around 8 a.m. As owner Rachel Roth confirmed, “All our guests had to evacuate; it took some coordination later to collect their belongings. We of course refunded the weekend and did our best to help them find area hotels if they wanted to stay nearby.” 

Elizabeth Bailey, whose home is just off Maple Avenue, on Pettibone Lane, was initially alerted when, “at 6:00 a.m. our dog, Poppy, woke us up. We heard some sirens, but we went back to sleep. By 8:00 a.m. we realized the power was off, but the generator hadn’t gone on, so we knew something else must be happening.” They were alarmed to learn via a message from electric company Eversource that the issue was right outside their own door on Pettibone Lane. “I went outdoors, and it absolutely reeked of gasoline fumes. We could see gas coursing down the property; our culvert was filled with it. We were told to evacuate immediately.” 

Bill Brodnitzki, on Maple Avenue, may have been among the first to realize the seriousness of the situation. “I became aware of an event on Route 44 when all the traffic started coming through Maple at 6:30 a.m.,” he recalled. Although he and his wife, Gerry, were also evacuated, as a volunteer with the Norfolk Lions Club Ambulance Service, Brodnitzki “ended up on-scene for about eight hours. We replaced the crew that was initially up there and monitored the situation.” He applauded the speed with which aid arrived. “There was a tremendous response from probably a dozen different fire companies. If there’d been any kind of ignition, it would have been a disaster.”

Bailey also noted that “the firemen were here night and day. That first day they did everything they possibly could do. [NVFD Fire Chief] Matt Ludwig’s first priority was safety, and they certainly did an excellent job at that.” 

Another volunteer with the Norfolk ambulance, Barbara Spiegel, explained that first responders weren’t only involved in the gas spill, noting that “the Harwinton ambulance service came and sat watch in Norfolk for 12 hours” while the Norfolk crew was involved at the incident site. Many other area towns supported the NVFD by supplying a standby crew in case an emergency arose elsewhere in Norfolk. Data is being collected on the volunteer and other response hours spent. Said Brodnitzki, “It’s gratifying that our town and the surrounding towns are there to help in an emergency like this. It’s the way it used to be and still is sometimes.” 

Once residents were safely out of their homes, attention quickly turned to protecting the town streams and water supply from gasoline contamination. Emergency response crews from the Conn. Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and Verdantas Environmental and Environmental Services, Inc., two remediation firms hired by the gas freighter’s insurance company, led the effort. The culvert on Pettibone Lane was of immediate concern, as it drains under Maple Avenue, flowing into the catch-stream on the Manor House Inn property and on down to the Blackberry River. Bill Brodnitzki’s property also borders the catch-stream. He noted “the immediate response to try to get things into the culvert to slow the gas; the objective was to keep it out of the Blackberry. They dumped a huge amount of what looks like pea stone and absorbent tubes that soak up the gas.” Kelly also witnessed an intense operation: “[Responders] were operating 24/7 in water and gas removal. Klieg lights were set up on Maple Avenue and generators ran all night. Tanker trucks pumped water out all-day Saturday and Sunday and well into the following week.” 

More than two weeks after the accident, concentrated environmental cleanup continued on Maple Avenue and Pettibone Lane. Soil and water testing continued to indicate contamination. Two residents of one heavily-impacted Maple Avenue home were unable to return due to high levels of gasoline still present in surrounding soils and basement-level groundwater. 

For now, local residents can only watch and wait. On Pettibone Lane, Elizabeth Bailey’s concern runs very high. “The big question is how much [the spill] effected the wetlands. I did a wetlands survey three months ago. We have at least an acre of wetlands between here and Route 44 and wetlands down to Maple Avenue. Wetlands are very fragile. How will they remediate and bring it back to exactly what it was before? It’s not going to be ok if it’s just a little bit contaminated.”

Nearby, the Manor House Inn will remain closed, says Roth, “until we know it is safe to have people here. Ours is one of the major sites for remediation,” she continues, “and we have lots of questions on what the time horizon is.” While she says that “Everyone has been assured that the property will be restored to how it was,” Roth is also “concerned about the environmental consequences,” and has questions about “what this could mean for property value down the road. Could gasoline come to the surface someday? What if there’s a long-term issue we can’t anticipate? It’s very sobering, the cost of something like this to lives, businesses and homes.”

State and town officials and remediation experts are predicting that the intermediate clean-up will continue for months. Wells will continue to be drilled on residents’ properties to monitor the movement of the gas. Long-term remediation plans are under development for what could be a years-long effort. 

While traffic has returned to normal on Route 44 and outward signs of the depth of the catastrophic spill are few, Bailey urges vigilance. “Everyone needs to understand that this effects all of the town. In going forward, transparency is very important. We have to ensure that our town remains the town that we’ve always had.”