Both the Huntington fire chief and police chief were on hand Monday morning, March 15, during the Board of Public Works and Safety meeting to offer updates on two events that happened on Thursday, March 11.

Fire Chief Matt Armstrong updated the board on the oil spill at Gladieux, where an estimated 250,000 gallons of fuel oil leaked out of one of the tanks during a transfer process. Armstrong said that an employee there forgot to shut off the transfer motor overnight. He added that he received the call about 3 a.m. on Thursday morning.

As of Friday, he said that 207,329 gallons have been recovered in the dike system and was meeting with Gladieux representatives later on Monday to discuss the progress made over the weekend.

Armstrong explained that holes were made around the property to insert equipment in to suck up the material and all the free-flowing product on top of the ground was collected by 3:30 or 4 p.m. the day of the spill. At about 8 p.m. on Thursday, Armstrong said he turned the command back over to Gladieux.

"Work has been going very well out there. All their safety measures were in effect, so everything went very smoothly," he told the board, adding that EPA and IDEM were impressed with how things went, and they are just checking now to make sure no oil got off the property.

He said that now, the rain will bring oil up to the surface and wash the rocks. Measures were taken in the dike system to collect any oil that might come off of those rocks.

Armstrong said the recovery process will continue in the daylight until everything is collected.

"We were very close to making national news, probably world news. That's how close things were out there (to being worse)."

Local fire trucks and crews were out there. The city was covered, as Roanoke and Bippus departments were on standby.

Armstrong concluded that Gladieux is investigating the error.

Following Armstrong was Police Chief Tom Emely, who reported on the city's drug bust on the same Thursday, which was "very positive for the department and city as a whole," he said.

"We put together during last year a drug enforcement initiative that was finalized last Thursday when we were able to (oust) approximately 31 individuals within the city limits that were dealing drugs in our community," Emely said. "We've brought [them] to the court system now."

Emely said the bust is a wrap up of the investigation, one of the most successful the department has had in its history.

Along for the bust, Emely said he pulled resources such as the Indiana State Police and other agencies in the county; Andrews, Warren, Markle, Roanoke police departments.

"It certainly takes a lot of manpower and planning to make this work," he explained.

Last Emely knew the police are still looking for two individuals. Vehicles and money could also be seized as a part of the investigation.

"We're back today. We're not naive enough to ... think we got everybody. There's still some more out here doing this and that will continue to do that. So we'll be back at it again today," he told the board.