EASTHAMPTON - Several city vehicles had to be sent to the garage Friday after officials at the Department of Public Works realized that municipal tanks meant for gasoline only had been accidentally stocked with diesel fuel.
The realization came after the drivers of two police cruisers and a handful of DPW pick-ups reported that their vehicles were running erratically.
DPW Director Joseph Pipczynski said when mechanics used diagnostic tools in an attempt to locate the problem, the readings kept showing that the vehicles were in good shape.
"The gear shops couldn't find out what was wrong with them at first," said Pipczynski. "After a little while we thought maybe we had some water in the fuel, so we called the fuel company to have them come check what was in the tanks."
During an analysis by the fuel company, it was discovered that the tanks were filled with a combination of diesel and regular gasoline, a mixture that causes engines meant to run on regular gasoline to have mechanical problems.
"It isn't good for the engines," said Pipczynski. "The larger trucks run on diesel, so they were unaffected, but the departments that fill up for regular gasoline had some trouble."
Although the mistake impacted a number of different municipal vehicles, Pipczynski said most of the damaged trucks and cruisers are already back on the road and he expects all will be back to normal by the end of the weekend.
"The fuel company is making everything right," he said. "They pumped out the last of what was in the tanks and they filled it up with some fresh gasoline for no charge."
Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com
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