Local News in Brief : Santa Ana : Ordinance Will Let City Recover Costs of Spills

The City Council on Monday approved an ordinance to make it easier for the Fire Department to recover costs when responding to hazardous material spills.

Under the state Health and Safety Code, the Fire Department may recover its costs only if the incident requires that an adjoining property be evacuated and if hazardous materials escape the premises.

The new ordinance would allow the city to charge a business, agency or homeowner for costs incurred in cleaning up hazardous material spills that pose a threat to human life, property or the environment.

In a memorandum on the new ordinance, Fire Chief Allen R. Carter cited a recent spill of hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel in the basement of the county engineering and finance building as an example of the shortcomings of the state code.

Carter said the city was unable to recover its costs because the fuel did not escape the premises and only one building was evacuated. Under the new ordinance, the city could have charged the county for its services and for contaminated boots and pants, he said.

The ordinance was passed on a first reading, and will come back for a final vote later this month.