WACO (October 22, 2009)=97The Waco
Fire Department=92s HAZMAT team responded to a mercury spill Thursday
afternoon in front of the new science building on the McLennan Community
College campus.
An area in front of the
building was taped off, but no evacuations were
ordered.
A crew will remain on
standby until an environmental cleanup team hired by the school arrives
to contain and remove the mercury.
An MCC lab
technician was using a cart to move about 10 pounds of mercury into the
new building when the container spilled just outside the door at around
2 p.m. Thursday.
Waco Assistant Fire Chief
Patrick Kerwin said because the temperature is relatively cool and the
mercury is so heavy, there=92s no concern about
vapors.
Mercury vaporizes at 70 degrees,
officials said.
The temperature on campus when
firefighters arrived was 65.
It=92s the team=92s
second response to a campus chemical spill in a little more than a
week.
On Oct. 13, Baylor University=92s
three-story science building was evacuated after a graduate student
spilled a small quantity of isobutyl cyanide, which is toxic and
potentially dangerous if ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the
skin.
The female graduate student was removing
vials of the chemical from a packing case when one of the vials fell to
the floor.
The student, whose name wasn=92t
released, placed the vial under a containment
hood.
Only about 1 milliliter of the substance
was spilled, a university spokeswoman
said.
That=92s less than a teaspoonful, but
enough to be dangerous.
