SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, June 21, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — The Salt Lake City Fire Department was dispatched to a Hazmat situation at University of Utah Hospital on Friday afternoon, after Jet-A fuel for the hospital’s medical helicopter spilled.
SLCFD Division Chief Ryan Mellor said a tanker truck was refilling the pumps for the helicopter when “something went wrong,” and approximately 25 gallons of the fuel spilled.
“The product went down the storm drain and was contained in the pipes and retaining pond, which is where it’s supposed to go,” Mellor told Gephardt Daily.
Two people were exposed to the fuel, and they are being decontaminated, he said.
The fuel did not get into the water supply, Mellor added, and there is no danger to the public.
Crews had the fuel spill taken care of within about two hours, and were wrapping things up by 6 p.m.
Mellor said the immediate concern was to “take care of the people who were exposed to the fuel, and to make sure none of the contaminant got into the water supply.”
“We accomplished that,” he said.