Mentor Firefighters Damming Chemical Spill

Ken Morgan was sitting on the deck of his Sea Pines Drive home Wednesday afternoon when he smelled what he thought was bug spray.

The scent came from Martin Ohm Creek, which winds through his back yard on the way to Mentor Marsh.

"At first, I thought it smelled like bug spray. Then I heard a firefighter say 'diesel,'" Morgan said.

Somebody spilled something – authorities are still trying to figure out what – that leaked into the creek this afternoon. The chemical, whatever it was, smelled pungent and left a sheen on the water.

"We think it's turpentine, paint thinner, diesel fuel – something like that," Acting Battalion Chief Eric Gartner said.

Mentor firefighters used an absorbent boom to stop the chemical before it reached the entrance of .

They laid three booms along the creek's path before that, but the recent thaw caused the water to rise and move too swiftly for the booms to stop it. Then firefighters found a stretch where the water slowed enough for them to dam it.

"Now that the boom is fully in place, we're working backward to see where it started," Mentor Deputy Fire Chief Robert Searles said.

Gartner said they think the chemical was spilled into a storm sewer in the Cambridge, Glenwood or Donald neighborhoods, or another street nearby.

The Environmental Protection Agency was called to help identify the spilled chemical.

"My concern is for the wildlife – the fish, the deer, everything," Morgan said.