NORTH BERWICK — High winds late Tuesday and early Wednesday are being blamed for a large fuel spill in North Berwick.
Winds that gusted to between 45 and 54 miles per hour toppled a private shed on Governor Goodwin Road overnight, which caused an external fuel tank with kerosene to tip over, according to a spokeswoman for the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
The tank spilled about 200 gallons of kerosene, she said.
The DEP was notified this morning, and crews are working to excavate the contaminated soil.
The property uses a public water supply, but drinking water was not threatened. There are other private wells in the area, however, and the DEP is investigating the threat of contamination to those wells, the spokeswoman said. There was no threat to surface water or wetlands, she said.
The fiercest winds were between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. from the southwest, according to the National Weather Service in Gray. Another bout of heavy wind, this time from the northwest, will descend on the area tonight, the service said.
The weather service has issued a wind-chill advisory for western Maine and northern New Hampshire. Those areas will see temperatures drop to between 5 and 10 degrees below zero, with wind chills as low as 25 below zero, said Mike Kistner, a meteorologist.
Portland and other coastal area will come close to single digits, Kistner said.
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