Crews Work Overnight To Recover Leaked Jet Fuel Near Sabal Park

More than 65 percent of the 31,500 gallons of jet fuel that leaked from a pipeline along Broadway Avenue in the Greater Brandon area of Mango had been siphoned up by Sunday night, according to a spokesperson for the company overseeing the cleanup effort.

“We have no time on how long the cleanup will take but we have made good progress to this point and hope to continue doing so,” Emily Mir Thompson, a spokesperson for Central Florida Pipeline, said Sunday night, July 24. “We can visually see we have recovered a good amount of product so far, more than 65 percent.”

Thompson said crews would be working throughout the night at the site, with notices of that work visible at the corner of East Broadway Avenue and Williams Road.

Earlier in the night, Ana Gibbs, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, reported the cleanup was ongoing “after the leak of 31,500 gallons of jet fuel.”

The company that operates the pipeline believes someone might have hit the pipe in error.

“It appears to be a third party striking the pipeline but we will continue our investigation to determine that,” Thompson said.

There were no road closures or evacuations as a result of the accident.

The leak was first reported at 7:45 p.m. July 22 along the pipeline which carries jet and diesel fuel to Orlando. It was stopped July 23 at about 9 p.m. and Central Florida Pipeline, which operates the pipeline, began pumping the product out of the line Sunday morning, July 24, at about 10:30 a.m.

The fuel leaked into a small ditch along Broadway that is part of the drainage system for the Sabal Park Industrial Area. Central Florida Pipeline is using booms and other containment equipment to contain the leak and ensure that it does not reach the Tampa Bypass Canal.

Sunday night, cleanup crews appeared prepared for a long night, with a small staging area on Broadway, well-stocked with crates of water and sports drinks and large floodlights at the ready.

A heavy smell of fuel filled the air around the site, where flagmen prepared to direct traffic around the scene of the leak.

Federal and state investigators are still trying to determine what caused the leak. Hillsborough County Fire Rescue and the Hillsborough County Office of Emergency Management had representatives on site, along with representatives from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Florida Division of Emergency Management.

The federal Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration representative is also investigating the cause of the breach of the pipe.

There’s no word yet on any environmental impact.  

"Mitigation efforts are underway,” Gibbs said. “Air monitoring is being conducted and biologists are on scene evaluating the environmental impact."