HINGHAM, Mass. — An excavator that sank into mud, spilling oil into Hingham Harbor Thursday afternoon remained partially submerged near the shore Friday night.
A crane, another excavator and two large tow trucks were scheduled to arrive Saturday morning to begin pulling the heavy machine out, said Hingham Fire Chief Steve Murphy.
The operator working for Quincy-based construction company ACK Marine & General Contracting was trying to straighten out a crooked pylon that was being installed as part of the Department of Fish and Game’s boat ramp project, Murphy said. But the machine, initially in just a few inches of mud, began quickly sinking.
“They attempted to remove the machine last night with a couple of tow trucks and were unsuccessful in doing that, because it’s really sunk down into the mud,” Murphy said from the scene Friday. “The side of it is pretty much buried up to the cab in mud.”
Murphy said the company did not notify first responders until Friday, delaying their efforts to contain the resulting oil spill.
Hingham police, fire, the Harbor Master, the Coast Guard and the Dept. of Environmental Protection responded to the scene.
“Communication breakdown on the fact that the company doing it didn’t know they had to notify us,” Murphy said. “We found out a little bit earlier today once [the oil] started leaking out.”
ACK Marine had set up a containment boom around the excavator to prevent oil and diesel fuel from going out to sea.
That containment seemed to hold until Friday when oil began seeping past the boom, Murphy said.
Hingham Fire and Rescue then set up an outer containment ring as well as absorbent pads around the machine.
An oil spill response crew from company Clean Harbors carefully disposed of the hazardous materials as low tide helped speed up the process before nightfall.
Reached by phone Friday, ACK Marine declined to comment on the incident, confirming only that everyone was okay.
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