Fishing, swimming not advised where fuel reached Sacramento River, health officials say

Mike Chapman, Redding Record Searchlight
·1 min read

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Shasta County health officials are warning people to keep their distance from the Sacramento River where a fuel spill entered the river under the Cypress Avenue bridge on Friday.

A tanker crash early Friday morning on Pine Street in downtown Redding caused the truck's tanks to rupture and spill a gasoline-diesel mix into storm drains. The fuel entered part of the Anderson-Cottonwood Irrigation Canal across from City Hall and the Sacramento River from its Calaboose Creek tributary.

A tanker crash in downtown Redding on Friday morning, Jan. 21, 2022, resulted in a fuel spill of a gas-diesel mix that went into storm drains. The fuel reached the ACID canal, Calaboose Creek and the Sacramento River.
A tanker crash in downtown Redding on Friday morning, Jan. 21, 2022, resulted in a fuel spill of a gas-diesel mix that went into storm drains. The fuel reached the ACID canal, Calaboose Creek and the Sacramento River.

About 4,000 gallons of the fuel mix contaminated the nearby waterways, according to the Shasta County Health and Human Services Agency.

"In the wake of a fuel spill on Pine Street in Redding early (Friday) morning, the Health and Human Services Agency is urging people to take precautions in the surrounding waterways," the agency's statement says.

Health authorities said strong fuel fumes might be present, which they were Friday.

People were inhabiting a homeless camp under the Cypress Avenue bridge yards away from where an environmental cleanup crew was working to contain and collect the fuel Friday at Calaboose Creek on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022.
People were inhabiting a homeless camp under the Cypress Avenue bridge yards away from where an environmental cleanup crew was working to contain and collect the fuel Friday at Calaboose Creek on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022.

The agency is discouraging people from activity at the Sacramento River south of the Cypress Avenue bridge, including drinking from the river, swimming and fishing.

People were inhabiting a homeless camp under the bridge yards away from where an environmental cleanup crew was working to contain and collect the fuel Friday at Calaboose Creek.

"The cleanup of approximately 4,000 gallons of a gasoline/diesel mix is expected to take several days to complete," the agency said. "Please continue to monitor local news for additional information on this situation."

California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesman Steve Gonzalez said the trucking company whose truck crashed and spilled the fuel is responsible for cleanup costs.

Mike Chapman is an award-winning reporter and photographer for the Record Searchlight in Redding, Calif. His newspaper career spans Yreka and Eureka in Northern California and Bellingham, Wash. Support local journalism by subscribing today.

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Fishing, swimming not advised where fuel spill hit Sacramento River