Hazmat Reports Cleaning Product in Storm Drain

Concerns over a chemical spill in Caldwell snarled traffic on Bloomfield Avenue Thursday while local and county officials conducted an investigation.

The Essex County Hazmat Unit, based out of Nutley, checked storm drains across half the town, as well as the nearby county park pond, but found that a cleaning product discovered in one storm drain had not spread.

Hazmat was called to the borough at approximately 12:45 p.m. when a strange odor was reported on Personette Street, near Bloomfield Avenue, according to Nutley Fire Department Lt. Don Santangelo.

“There was a company that was cleaning the paver blocks and the product rolled down the driveway onto the street and into the storm drain,” Santangelo said. He said the spill has been deemed accidental.

Hazmat worked alongside local and county health officials, as well as the borough’s Department of Public Works and the Caldwell Volunteer Fire Department, after a stripping product was discovered in the storm drain.

Santangelo said the team started at pond more than a mile away and worked its way to Brookside Avenue, east on Bloomfield Avenue to Personette. The product was found only in the storm drain on Personette, he said. 

“We just want to cover all our bases and make sure everything was cleared,” he said.

Nutley Hazmat left the scene at about 3:40 p.m. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection supervised the clean-up which was finishing up Thursday evening.