Brown County (Nashville) volunteer firefighters worked to contain several gallons of diesel fuel which spilled from a semi tractor-trailer near the Brown-Bartholomew county line this afternoon.

Firefighter Nick Kelp said a semi driver with Prime Inc. was on 46 East toward Nashville when he noticed he was losing fuel. The driver pulled over west of Nelson Ridge Road and noticed he had a puncture in one of the semi trailer’s gas tanks.

The tank can hold 100 gallons. Kelp said the driver estimated he lost around 25 gallons of fuel, but Kelp estimated it was more than that.

“It was a pretty steady leak and it was leaking the entire time we were there,” he said.

The fuel ran into a drainage ditch that runs along State Road 46 and was moving toward a ravine, but Kelp said the fuel did not appear to have made its way into Henderson Creek, which is connected to the ravine.

He estimated the fuel traveled 100 to 150 feet down the drainage ditch. Firefighters used absorbent tubes and oil dry to soak up the fuel.

Prime Inc. called an independent contractor to clean up the spill, Kelp said.

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management was also contacted. IDEM will follow up with Prime Inc. and will also visit the fuel spill site in the next few days to make sure it was cleaned to their standards, Kelp said.

Kelp said there were cracks in the concrete drainage ditch. He said the contractor may have to dig up surrounding soil to make sure there is no contamination because that is what is done on larger-scale fuel spills.