Thousands of gallons of aviation fuel spilled underground in Bridgeport Thursday afternoon after construction crews struck a buried pipeline, triggering shelter-in-place orders, evacuations and the shutdown of a major roadway in the Montgomery County borough.
Officials told NBC10 Philadelphia that the pipeline belongs to Sunoco and that the rupture happened during excavation work near East 4th Street, also known as River Road, close to Coates Street. The hazmat situation was first reported around 3:30 p.m., according to the outlet.
Residents Told to Stay Put as Evacuations Begin
The initial shelter-in-place order was lifted around 5:25 p.m. Nearby homes and businesses were being evacuated, per the station's report.
The response remained ongoing, with people urged to stay away from the area altogether. The article notes that officials had not said how far or how deep the fuel had traveled underground, and no timetable had been given for when the affected roadway might reopen.
How Pennsylvania Law Treats Underground Fuel Lines
Pennsylvania's Underground Utility Line Protection Law defines excavation work as the use of powered equipment or explosives to move earth, rock or other material, and it explicitly covers underground pipes that carry gas, oil or oil products, according to the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Under that law, facility owners must mark, stake or otherwise provide the position of underground lines within two working days of receiving a timely request. The statute sets out requirements for locating underground lines.
A Bucks County Leak Offers a Cautionary Comparison
Sunoco pipelines have drawn scrutiny elsewhere in the region. In Upper Makefield Township, Bucks County, a separate Sunoco pipeline leaked an estimated 6,500 gallons of jet fuel and contaminated well water, according to WHYY. That leak was first identified by Sunoco on Jan. 31, 2025, when six private drinking wells were found to be contaminated, and a preliminary federal investigation later determined the leak had actually begun 16 months before it was discovered.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that of six wells that tested positive for hydrocarbons in that case, four exceeded contaminant levels for drinking water. Sunoco said it collected more than 1,800 water samples from 365 private wells and installed over 200 filtration systems as part of the cleanup, per WHYY.
That Bucks County remediation has stretched on for months. Sunoco and Energy Transfer began multiphase extraction work on Sept. 14, expected to run until late November, according to The Trentonian. A Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection letter dated Sept. 29 flagged deficiencies in that cleanup plan, including missing details on which residential wells would be monitored, the outlet reported.
In Bridgeport, it remains unclear what environmental impact the Thursday spill will have, including whether soil, groundwater or nearby water sources have been affected. For now, the response on East 4th Street remains ongoing, and officials are urging residents to steer clear of the area until more is known.
