Fire Department

Engine 1 responded to the above location for a grease spill.  Upon arrival, the crew noticed some sort of spill coming from the alley behind the buildings on the West Mifflin side of the Capitol Square.  The spill was from a 55-gallon drum of duck fat that had tipped over behind Rare Steakhouse.  The restaurant stores the fat  in drums to be picked up and disposed of by another company.  About 20 yards away there was another drum tipped over, but only slightly leaking, as the cover held tight.  This drum was filled with peanut oil and the Engine 1 crew returned the barrel to an upright position. They then proceeded to speak to the restaurant’s chef, who had noticed  the spill earlier and had attempted to wash it away with buckets of water.  Because duck oil is very slippery, the crew used oil dry to coat the sidewalks and to stop the flow of oil into the two storm drains downhill from the spill.  Engine 1 then consulted with the MFD’s Hazardous Incident Team (HIT) on the best way to clean up.  The HIT leader advised not to wash the duck fat into the storm drain, adding that the oil did not pose a danger to anybody. Engine 1 crew advised the chef of how it needed to be cleaned up.  The chef had already contacted a contractor to come and absorb the spill.