Settling the bill in Mass. heating oil delivery error could take a year, energy expert says
Dang Nguyen says his wife called him Monday when she noticed a terrible smell in their basement. The smell turned out to be 385 gallons of oil, mistakenly pumped into their Medford, Massachusetts, basement, which does not have an oil tank.The mishap triggered a hazardous material response, all because the oil was delivered to the correct street in the wrong city.”Why he coming over here and pump because we not ordered it,” Nguyen said. “Yeah, he did because that’s the one in Malden and he come to Medford.”The family says they have not had oil in years, a state law that requires the fill pipe and vent to be removed with the oil tank, which did not happen on Monday. “Under state’s code, the oil burner code, when a heating oil tank is removed to obviously have it replaced with another heating system, whether it’s a natural gas system or an electric heat pump, the fill and vent piping have to be removed by code,” said Michael Ferrante.Ferrante works for the Massachusetts Energy Marketers Association, a business trade group.He said determining who foots the bill for the basement cleanup can take time.”Moving forward, this is going to take a little bit of time to really realize what has happened here and the extent of the damage,” Ferrante said. “I would suspect both the heating oil company, the homeowner and the insurance company will be involved in settling this matter over the next several months or year.”The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection is monitoring the situation.So far, oil absorbents have been used to contain the oil, and a cleanup crew, hired by the oil company, is working to ventilate the fumes.Ferrante says Fawcett Energy, the company responsible for the mix-up, is well-known in the industry. “They are probably one of the most reputable firms in the state,” Ferrante said. “Unfortunately, this happens to any company, whether they are small or medium or large.” The residents of 48 Linwood St. are now living with family and still trying to process how this happened.No one was hurt in the incident, but the oil coated the floor of the basement. Fire officials said the cleanup will take a significant amount of time.
Dang Nguyen says his wife called him Monday when she noticed a terrible smell in their basement.
The smell turned out to be 385 gallons of oil, mistakenly pumped into their Medford, Massachusetts, basement, which does not have an oil tank.
The mishap triggered a hazardous material response, all because the oil was delivered to the correct street in the wrong city.
“Why he coming over here and pump because we not ordered it,” Nguyen said. “Yeah, he did because that’s the one in Malden and he come to Medford.”
The family says they have not had oil in years, a state law that requires the fill pipe and vent to be removed with the oil tank, which did not happen on Monday.
“Under state’s code, the oil burner code, when a heating oil tank is removed to obviously have it replaced with another heating system, whether it’s a natural gas system or an electric heat pump, the fill and vent piping have to be removed by code,” said Michael Ferrante.
Ferrante works for the Massachusetts Energy Marketers Association, a business trade group.
He said determining who foots the bill for the basement cleanup can take time.
“Moving forward, this is going to take a little bit of time to really realize what has happened here and the extent of the damage,” Ferrante said. “I would suspect both the heating oil company, the homeowner and the insurance company will be involved in settling this matter over the next several months or year.”
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection is monitoring the situation.
So far, oil absorbents have been used to contain the oil, and a cleanup crew, hired by the oil company, is working to ventilate the fumes.
Ferrante says Fawcett Energy, the company responsible for the mix-up, is well-known in the industry.
“They are probably one of the most reputable firms in the state,” Ferrante said. “Unfortunately, this happens to any company, whether they are small or medium or large.”
The residents of 48 Linwood St. are now living with family and still trying to process how this happened.
No one was hurt in the incident, but the oil coated the floor of the basement. Fire officials said the cleanup will take a significant amount of time.