By Kirsty Ross
Police and firefighters were called around 5pm after the spill made its way into the lower Yarra River.
Ken Brown, operations commander for the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, said about 2000 litres of unleaded petrol most likely leaked from a broken valve on nearby equipment, believed to belong to Caltex.
Caltex had not responded before Star went to press.
Mr Brown said firefighters dammed drains with sand, to stop petrol getting into the drainage system, and used floating booms on the river.
He said they also helped in running suction trucks which removed petrol from the river.
They accomplished everything under supervision of the Environment Protection Authority (EPA), which was investigating the spill.
EPA officers said they collected samples and may take any necessary action.
“EPA officers were notified of the incident by MFB, who, with assistance from a number of organisations, including Caltex, stopped the flow of fuel and instigated a clean-up,” an EPA spokeswoman said.
Worksafe inspectors were also at the scene.
Several thousand litres of petrol-contaminated water have been removed from the drainage system.
At the time of going to press there had been no reports of affected wildlife.
