By Jessie Burchette
jburchette@salisburypost.com

Salisbury firefighters have worked for most of day to contain a fuel spill behind Rowan Regional Medical Center.
Around noon today, officials also notified the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources to assist in containing and determine the origin of the spill.
By mid-day, it had contaminated three-quarter to a mile of a stream running through Hurley Park toward Grants Creek.
Fire Chief Bob Parnell said the initial call came from someone who smelled fuel.
As firefighters began investigating the source, they found a sheen on the water in the Hurley Park and City Park area.
Firefighters and the city-county Hazmat crew immediately began efforts to contain the spill.
Heavy rains overnight and today have made the process difficult. “It’s very difficult to collect, the speed of the water has made collecting and cleaning very difficult,” Parnell said.
Firefighters put out hydrocarbon collection booms and other materials to collect or slow the materials as it moved toward Grants Creek.
Parnell said they aren’t sure how much has spilled or the source. It appeared to be accumulating in the spillway at Hurley Park.
There were no obvious sources for the fuel which appeared to be diesel.
State environmental officials arrived on the scene around 1 p.m. today.

Check back for updates.