Crews are mopping up an oil spill that made its way into the Willamette River in North Portland Monday night.

Portland's Bureau of Environmental Services, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, the US Coast Guard and the US Environmental Protection Agency responded to a report of an oil spill from Union Pacific Railroad's Albina Yard around 8 p.m. Monday.

The railyard is located on North River Street, near the east end of the Fremont Bridge.

Levi Read, a spokesman for the Coast Guard, said the source of the leak was a tank sitting on the ground. The oil leaked from the tank into a storm drain and into the Willamette River, he said.

Union Pacific responded quickly, Read said, deploying its own hazardous materials team and contacting authorities. Luckily, the oil leaking into the river was contained by a boom that the EPA had placed in the area beforehand for a separate project, he said.

It's unclear how much oil has seeped from the container, but crews started cleanup quickly, plugging the storm drain, pumping contaminated water from the river and deploying absorbent pads and booms to the area.

Read did not know how long cleanup would take, but the public is advised to avoid the area in the mean time.

-- Anna Marum

amarum@oregonian.com

503-294-5911

@annamarum