County Cleaning Fuel Spill at Emergency Operations Center

A small fuel spill outside Pasco County’s Emergency Operations Center caused the smell of fuel to infiltrate the building Tuesday morning.

Ed Caum, spokesman for the county, said a county work truck that was filling up at the nearby county pump, and it filled its tank with too much gas. When it turned a corner, the gas spilled out into a parking lot behind the Emergency Operations Center.  

“It was just 3 to 5 gallons of an over-filled tank,” he said.

The county is currently cleaning up the spill, Caum said.

The spill was in the parking lot, but the smell penetrated the building, which houses the emergency operations center. The sheriff’s office and Fire Rescue 911 dispatches are housed in the building.

Some county employees complained of the smell of fuel, vomiting or watering eyes. 

Emergency responders checked on employees who notified and found that they were “fine," Caum said.

The county is rotating people out of the building to get fresh air, but operations are continuing.

“Bottom line is everybody’s fine,” Caum said.