Posted on 06/05/25
| News Source: WBAL TV
Baltimore, MD - June 5, 2025 - Multiple Maryland and Baltimore City agencies are responding to a 2,000-gallon fuel spill that began Wednesday in Harbor East, officials said.
Officials said Johns Hopkins Hospital reported just after 11 a.m. Wednesday that its crews contained a 200-gallon diesel spill at its East Baltimore facility.
About two hours later, Baltimore City fire received a 911 call about a diesel fuel spill in a Harbor East marina. Multiple agencies "stood up a coordinated response" an hour thereafter.
Shortly before 7 p.m. Wednesday, Hopkins said the spill was uncontained and had reached 2,000 gallons.
In a statement released Wednesday night, a Hopkins representative said:
"Earlier today, during routine fuel delivery by a third-party vendor, two diesel tanks which supply power for backup generators for our patient care facilities at Johns Hopkins in East Baltimore were accidentally overfilled causing overflow. We immediately notified the Maryland Department of Environment (MDE) of the overflow while continuing to investigate, and we proactively reached out again to MDE as we learned more about the estimated overflow volume. We also are actively working with local, state, and federal authorities to support the response in the Baltimore Inner Harbor."
The Coast Guard deployed some 600 feet of boom to contain the fuel.
WBAL-TV 11 News reporter Kim Dacey reported an overwhelming gas odor at the scene as crews continue to work on mitigation efforts.
"I showed up this morning, I had no idea, but the smell is pretty pungent," said Tariq Mansour, who works in Harbor East.
"It looks pretty gross," said Gary Smolvak, a Baltimore resident. "Definitely, the water should not have a rainbow sheen on it — that's not normal."
Officials spoke early Thursday morning at a news conference to provide an update on the cleanup efforts.
"Once the contractors arrived, we began to skim product off of the water. This is a heating oil product. You'll notice that it's red. So we began to skim that off the water and contain that through the remainder of the night into the early morning. And where we are right now, we've began an operation where we're opening up fire hydrants, and we're starting to flush the storm drain system," Baltimore City Fire Chief James Wallace said.
Officials said the spill is contained to a marina roughly 100 yards by 250 yards. The Maryland Department of the Environment said the red color comes from the dye in the diesel fuel that's used for heating.
"So, the incident footprint right now on the water is is behind us. It's approximately 100 yards wide by about 250 yards long. We have it contained within this particular footprint as we flush upstream. We're going to bring product down. We're going to bring it into this area. But the strategy has been contained where we're at right now," Wallace said.
"So, throughout the course of the night, while we were amassing the resources needed to do the cleanup, we were sitting there mapping out, following the storm drain maps so we could isolate and and ensure that we knew where the product flow was going to be so that when we do begin the flushing operation, or we did that earlier this morning, that we knew where it was going to come out and there were no unexpected consequences there," said Jeff Dorney, with MDE.
The Coast Guard, which is in charge of command, is working with Miller Environmental Group, a contractor. The contractor is using oil-absorbent materials and skimmers at the scene.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said agencies have been involved with the cleanup efforts since around 2 p.m. Wednesday.
"Watching the coordination that we've seen here has not just been important. It's been incredibly impressive. And I'd also like to recognize all of the emergency crew, the emergency personnel from the city of Baltimore, from the state of Maryland, and also from the United States Coast Guard. This has been a robust and a truly collective effort that we've now seen ten different city and state agencies that have been deployed, and we've mobilized assets from local, state, and also on the federal levels," Moore said.
"Obviously, you can smell that gas and we can see the oil on the water. But we know people understand the concern. But again, as you just heard, there is no impact to drinking water. And we're doing everything that we can to mitigate any environmental impacts of the spill," Scott said.
The leaders stressed that the spill has not affected the city's drinking water, which comes from Loch Raven Reservoir.
"We have no evidence to suggest there is any impact on drinking water in the area," Moore said. "Now, despite that, I do want to be clear that we still have work to do and we ask that all Marylanders are using alternate routes away from Harbor East, and allow the emergency personnel to do their jobs."
WBAL-TV 11 News reporter Tommie Clark is reporting about how people rescued animals affected by the fuel spill and how the Maryland Department of Natural Resources is working to help ducks, geese, turtles and other animals caught in the spill.
"We actually had an event scheduled right there tonight with Healthy Harbor to see the wildlife here in the city, because they have certain wildlife positions throughout the city," said Jacki Gilbert, a Baltimore resident. "There was a turtle exhibit here and the turtles have been removed. They're being cleaned up from the oil."
Mansour said he's concerned about the oil spill's impact on efforts to clean the Inner Harbor.
"I know there has been a lot of effort recently to clean up the harbor," Mansour said. "There was that big swim project that launched last year, so this is very, very sad. I hope they take care of it pretty quickly."