More than a year after a gasoline leak from a nearby convenience store fueled an apartment fire, state regulators still are trying to clean up the area near Ninth and Louisiana streets.

A Kansas Department of Health and Environment regulator said Wednesday the risk for another explosion from the spilled fuel is all but gone, but it may take several more years to remove contaminants from the ground and water.

“It will be a long time before we leave, probably,” said Randy Carlson, section chief for the storage tank division of KDHE.

A small hole in an underground fuel tank at Presto Phillips 66 Station, 602 W. Ninth St., was blamed for an apartment house fire at 838 La. in late April 2006. Investigators think leaked gasoline was sucked into the home’s sump pump. Fumes then were ignited by a pilot light.

KDHE pumped more than 2,000 gallons of gasoline from the ground, but Carlson said it has been many months since the pumping station has detected gasoline in the groundwater. Carlson said the pump now is working to remove gasoline byproducts from the groundwater.

Some neighbors in the area are still wary, though. Darwin Eakins lives in the 800 block of Louisiana. He said he remains concerned about what happens when the area has an extended period of heavy rain, which would cause the water table to rise.

Carlson estimated the state had spent about $600,000 on the cleanup. The money comes from state funds generated by part of the motor fuel tax.