FRIDAY HARBOR — A small fuel spill was reported Saturday in the San Juan Islands, and Coast Guard units from Port Angeles and elsewhere were working to contain the pollutant between Guemes and San Juan islands.
Two Coast Guard vessels — one of them from Port Angeles — and a helicopter from the Port Angeles air station were working to contain and clean up the spill, Petty Officer Jeff Pollinger said.
It appeared to be a light fuel, possibly diesel, said Cmdr. Mark Dix.
The spill likely involves less than 100 gallons — considerably smaller than a 1,000-gallon oil spill that sullied beaches near Tacoma last week.
Saturday’s spill was reported to be about 100 feet wide and several hundred feet long by early afternoon, Dix said, and thinning from a rainbow to a silver hue.
Conditions were choppy, he said.
Possible spill sources included vessels, marinas, a refinery near Anacortes — though the facility had not reported any releases — and land-based sources such as stormwater outfalls, Dix said.
Recent rains could have flushed the fuel from storm drains, he said.
