WILMINGTON, DELAWARE (9/7/2015) A deli was closed by city officials after firefighters determined waste oil from the basement was being dumped into the street, authorities said today.
Firefighters were called to the store at 609 W. Ninth St. at 9:47 p.m. Sunday.
Battalion Chief James Jobes said the petroleum mixture was traveling down both sides of West Eighth Street and as far as a storm sewer at Eighth and Windsor streets.
“Upon arrival of the Incident Commander,Battalion Chief Richard Danner,it was discovered that the occupant of a local deli located at 609 West Ninth Street was illegally dumping waste oil from the basement of his facility into the street,” Jobes said. “A joint investigation between Wilmington Fire Department and Wilmington Police Department determined that the occupant had been paying individuals to load buckets of the waste oil for weeks and was illegally dumping the waste into the sewer system. The basement of the facility was found to have a pit like [trough] which contained the waste oil/water mixture.”
Wilmington License and Inspection, Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and the Belvedere Fire Company hazmat unit were responded to assist in the cleanup and investigation.
Jobes said License and Inspection shut the business down for a number of licensing issues, but details were not available.
DNREC was evaluating the situation to determine who will be responsible for the cleanup of the basement and the storm sewers, Jobes said.