UPDATED: 1/7/23, 5:20 p.m.
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Emergency crews in Montgomery County responded to an oil spill in Central Perkiomen Valley Park in Schwenksville Friday morning.
Perkiomen Township Fire Company volunteer firefighters were dispatched just after 8 a.m, after a heating oil tank leaked Friday morning, sending oil a small creek that flows through central Perkiomen Park and into the Perkiomen Creek.
"We don't know how much of that heating fuel was leaked out," said Perkiomen Township Fire Chief John Barnshaw, who added the tank had a capacity of 10,000 gallons.
The fire company said that the spill originated from a nearby building, near Plank Road and Gravel Pike.
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"There doesn’t appear to be any negligence or anything suspicious," Barnshaw said. "I think with all that water we got the past couple days, that might have played into part, at least some of the spreading of the oil."
He said the process is ongoing, with teams using soak pads and absorbent booms to keep more oil from entering the creek.
"It allows the water to pass underneath of it. It skims the oil on top of the water and it absorbs that only," he explained.
Officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Montgomery County Park Rangers, and Pennsylvania Wildlife Conservation Officers investigated any damage to the creek and wildlife there. So far, there have been no reports of affected wildlife.
KYW Newsradio's Gina Pompilio contributed to this story.