The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

THE HERALD Wednesday April Pages Sixman team specializes in cleaning up spills By BRIAN Herald Staff The call can come any time of the day or night When It does a six man team hops in their truck and hurries to the scene Its crucial that tbey res pond quickly The environment depends on it They are the Hills Emergency Spills Response Team and their job is to make sure citizens and the sensitive ecosystem arent threatened by chemical spills throughout town Formed in 1985 the spills response team expanded from three to six men last January Their job is to monitor the many storm sewer outfalls and catch basins throughout town and to clean up any of the smaller spills that need attention Ken Robinson Dick Spear Keith Smiley Bob Bob Clark and Don Swackhamer are the men in the yellow truck donated by the towns fire department that passersby often see cleaning up on the side of the road The whole team is coordinated by town general works superinten dent Frank Morette Its still in its infancy right now Mr Morette says of the team We deal with the minor spills Halton Region are the leaders Theyve been trained to handle the bigger spills When the report comes in of a spill the towns team responds first If the job is more than they can handle the extensive resources of Region are called in Late last year a truck tip ped over on the Fifth Line north of There were 7700 litres of fuel to contain and clean These are the faces Halton Hills residents see around town as the emergency spills response team makes sore any chemical spills are cleaned up or contained until the larger unit from the Region arrives on the scene In front are Ken Robinson Dick Spear and Keith Smiley Behind are Bob Fendley Bob Clark and Don Swackhamer Herald photo up The Halton Hills team was able to contain the spill by blocking off culverts and any other areas where the liquid might flow so that the Region team was able to clean up the fuel with minimal damage to the environment The most common spills are gasoline diesel gas and hydraulic fluid Mr Morette says Often the team is just called for a washdown of fuel from a road but their actions in the first minutes after a spill are responsi ble for saving the and fish which inhabit the towns streams and rivers In one spill gasoline entered a storm sewer through the catch basin Thats you might smell gas in the bouse If you do you know Halton Hills response team is at work trying to clean up the gas The gas worked Its way through the sewer system and came out in a settling pond said Mr Morette It took three days to clean up the whole mess Its becoming more and more sophisticated all the time Mr Morette says of the spills The team has several materials on band in the truck to contain a spill First they may lay an boom around a sewer out fall to contain the chemical which always floats on top of the water Then a diaper an absorbent white pad that looks just like diaper can be laid on top of the water to soak up the chemical In other cases an absorbent similar to peatmoss called Oclan- can be poured on top of the spill Sometimes simple straw does the trick said Mr Morette Their truck is loaded with the ab sorbent boom and diapers straw the peat material picks axes and several common sense utensils such as aluminum shovels to avoid causing dangerous sparks There are also harnesses which can allow a 90pound man to heave a 300- pound man out of a manhole in times of emergency The truck also carried a huge yellow spills barrel That barrel can be placed on top of a leaking barrel and flipped over to quickly lessen the effect a defective barrel can have on the environment Once during a severe lightning storm a transformer crashed to the ground spilling its dangerous toxic chemicals on Confederation Street in Glen Williams The chemicals made their way into two ponds in the area Using the boom and the diapers the spills response team was able to clean up the mess before it caused too much damage On another occasion weed spray escaped into Silver Creek near Park Avenue after a hose contain ing weed spray burst open on Drive The team was able LET TIDY CAR KEEP YOUR VEHICLE NEAT Our Professional Services Include DAY CLEANING INTERIORS A SHINE FABRIC PROTECTION SUNROOFS VINYL ROOF REVITALIZING RUST PROOFING TOUCH UP PAINT CAB COVERS SPLASH GUARDS RUNNING BOARDS WINDOW TINTING PIN STRIPING RUNNING BOARDS installation YOUR ONESTOP CAR CARE CENTRE 8730570 265 Guelph Street Georgetown Mod Sam Friday to trace the leak to the sewer out fall on Silver Creek They spent the- next two dayB taking eighthour shifts cleaning up the mess Early last summer a pink substance escaped from Smith and Stone on Glen Road The spills team contained it while the com cleaned it up said Mr Smiley a foreman with the team The biggest spill the team had to deal with occurred at Park Ther mal Ltd on Todd Road last March A truck carrying petroleum split open spilling gallons litres on to the surroun ding area Halton Region took con of that spill while the Hills team provided the backup While they are trained to handle leaks both Region and the Halton Hills team have their work inspected by the Ministry of En vironment said Mr Smiley And the time of the spills naturally can never be conve nient If the call comes in from Region late at night its out of bed and into the yellow truck Were on call hours a seven days a week said Smiley day Mr CORRECTION We regret that due to limited supply the following items may hot be available all store locations during the Sizzlers Sale flyer catalogue DESCRIPTION 320 Lounge Pad 240 Stroller 883 Deluxe Chair Nintendo Control Deck Commando Video Game 802 967 Video Game N ELLS DRIVING SCHOOL Apptond by the Ontario Ssfety NEXT COURSE May 8th to 31st Mori Wed Night 630 930 For Information About Courses or Private Lessons phone 8772671 WHAT DO YOU REALLY KNOW ABOUT WHERE YOU Can you answer these questions What happens if you don pay your property taxes Find the correct answers and much more about the community you live in during LOCAL GOVERNMENT WEEK APRIL Its the time to find out bow your community works for you Ministry of Municipal Affairs Ontario John Minister In support of your Local Government Week Celebrations