Crews cleaning up fuel spill in Bangs Lake

An environmental firm is cleaning up roughly 30 gallons of diesel fuel that spilled onto Bangs Lake in Wauconda Friday morning.

Village officials are asking residents to stay out of the water until the fuel is removed.

The leak came from a pick-up truck parked near the west end of the lake by the Wauconda Park District marina where a contractor was working on a water line project, said Wauconda Mayor Sal Saccomanno.

Saccomanno said the village's environmental department was on the scene immediately.

The village has hired SET Environmental to control the spill with containment booms and do the cleanup.

But high winds blew the spill clear across the lake to the northeastern shore near Maimans II subdivision. The spill does not seem to have entered the Circle Channel.

Village officials notified the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, Illinois Emergency Management Agency, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and Lake County of the spill.

"If it wasn't so windy today, it wouldn't have gotten as far as it did because we did have it contained in the area where it eventually went into," Saccomanno said.

SET Environmental will place orange containment booms in the lake from near Lakeview Villa to Maimans I subdivisions. Boats will not be able to pass the booms.

The firm will also erect lights and place booms along the lakeshore near private property to protect those areas. Cleanup crews will be removing the spilled fuel in boats through the weekend.

"We are definitely on top of it and doing everything we can to advise the residents and keep it contained," Saccomanno said.

The police department will be investigating how the spill occurred, as the pickup truck had been parked there for some time, he added.