A two-truck crash spilled diesel fuel next to the Little Campbell River in South Langley Friday morning.
The crash took place on 16th Avenue, where two large trucks were eastbound between 200th Street and 208th Street, said Terry Veer, a manager of roads and draining with Langley Township.
The first truck apparently lost control in the winding roads of the ravine where the Little Campbell passes under the road.
That truck crashed, and Veer said he has been told the second truck then went off the road, possibly trying to avoid debris from the first crash.
The second truck ruptured one of its two “saddle tanks,†the large diesel fuel tanks on either side of the engine.
The crash took place near the bridge over the Little Campbell, and some of the diesel spilled onto the shoulder of the road near the creek.
There could have been around 200 litres of diesel spilled, although the total amount isn’t known, said Mitch Sokalsky, director of Metro Vancouver Regional Parks.
Metro Vancouver took the lead on the cleanup as all the land around there is part of the Campbell Valley Regional Park.
Workers brought in by Metro Vancouver are thought to have trapped the majority of the diesel fuel before it got into the groundwater or creek, and were expected to be back this week to continue with the cleanup.
“The rapid response certainly helped contain the diesel flow into the Little Campbell,†said Sokalsky.
Two dams and absorbant padding were deployed along the creek itself, and by Monday Sokalsky said that he was being told no diesel was entering the creek itself.
A diesel odour in the area is expected to continue until some contaminated soil from along the shoulder of the road is removed.
That could happen as early as this week, Sokalsky said.
There have been a number of high-profile crashes on 16th Avenue, including a number of fatal incidents over the years.
Residents have repeatedly raised concerns about high speeds, road designs, the lack of locations for RCMP officers to set up speed traps, and the large number of heavy trucks that regularly use the road.
The Little Campbell and Campbell River drains into Semiahmoo Bay in South Surrey.