An oil truck caught on fire at a south Morgan Hill business Tuesday morning, but crews extinguished the blaze before anyone was injured, according to authorities.
Firefighters from Morgan Hill Fire Department and CalFire responded to Pacific Northwest Oil, 16490 Vineyard Boulevard, about 10 a.m. June 7, according to CalFire Battalion Chief Pete Gallegos.
A 1,000-gallon asphalt oil truck caught on fire while an employee was filling the vessel with heated oil, Gallegos said.
Using several fire engine trucks and a ladder truck, fire crews knocked down the blaze by about 10:30 a.m., according to authorities.
After the blaze was extinguished, crews then had to contain the runoff of oil into the storm drain system, Gallegos added. Santa Clara County Environmental Health and City of Morgan Hill officials were notified of the potential hazardous material spill into the ground.
No injuries were reported, and the Pacific Northwest Oil building was not damaged.
Pacific Northwest Oil stores and sells roadway oils, emulsions and “geosynthetic” materials, according to property owner Janet Simas. She arrived at the scene of the fire while crews were starting to contain the spill of oil into the ground.
Simas owns and sells the products, but does not own Pacific Northwest’s equipment and trucks. “They take the product to wherever I’ve sold it,” Simas said.
Among the company’s regular clients are cities, counties and other public jurisdictions that enter into road building contracts, Simas said. Pacific Northwest Oil has been at the Vineyard Boulevard site since 2005.
Simas added she was relieved that nobody was injured and the building was not damaged due to the fire. The truck that caught fire was a total loss, and was worth about $200,000, she added.
