Links to details available at
us_nc: Piedmont truck stop, fast-food restaurant shut
down by chemical leak
PIEDMONT =97 A truck stop off Interstate 85 in
Piedmont was closed for several hours Wednesday while a hazardous
materials team tried to plug a chemical leaking from a tanker truck,
firefighters said.
Anderson County Fire Chief Billy Gibson identified the
chemical that closed Pilot Travel Centers at Exit 35 as acrylonitrile, a
polymer used in the making of plastics and resins.
No injuries were reported.
The truck center at that exit includes a McDonald=92s
Restaurant, which was also temporarily closed.
A truck driver discovered the leak and reported it
after parking his rig overnight at the truck stop, Gibson said. The leak
could be linked to a valve and could have been caused by too much
pressure, he said.
us: Safety Rules Can=92t Keep Up With Biotech
Industry
They are the highly trained, generally well-paid
employees in the vanguard of American innovation: people who work in
biotechnology labs. But the cutting edge can be a risky place to
work.
The casualties include an Agriculture Department
scientist who spent a month in a coma after being infected by the E.
coli bacteria her colleagues were experimenting with.
Another scientist, working in a New Zealand lab while
on leave from an American biotechnology company, lost both legs and an
arm after being infected by meningococcal bacteria, the subject of her
vaccine research.
Last September, a University of Chicago scientist died
after apparently being infected by the focus of his research: the
bacterium that causes plague.
Whether handling deadly pathogens for biowarfare
research, harnessing viruses to do humankind=92s bidding or genetically
transforming cells to give them powers not found in nature, the
estimated 232,000 employees in the nation=92s most sophisticated
biotechnology labs work amid imponderable hazards. And some critics say
the modern biolab often has fewer federal safety regulations than a
typical blue-collar factory.
us_md: Students, School Staff Isolated After
Thermometers Break
BALTIMORE -- A group of elementary schools playing
with thermometers caused a hazmat situation Friday in Baltimore.
Fire department spokesman Kevin Cartwright said more
than a dozen people were isolated after broken thermometers prompted
concerns about the mercury inside.
The incident occurred at Rodman Elementary School on
West Mulberry Street.
The students and staffers affected were to be showered
in a decontamination trailer.
There were no injuries reported.
Cartwright said the students were playing with
thermometers that broke and released mercury.
us_nc:
Newport chemical plant fire, Hazmat called to scene
Newport, N.C. - Scary moments this afternoon after a
fire sparked at a plant in Newport.
Fire crews tell us the fire happened around 1 p.m. at
the SPX Dehydration and Process Plant off Highway 24.
Some sort of chemical powder sparked a flash fire.
More than a dozen people were treated for contamination. A Cherry Point
Hazmat crew was called in to help. The investigation continues into what
caused the fire.
us_pa: Crews Feared Worst In Leetsdale Chemical
Explosion
LEETSDALE, Pa. -- Cleanup has begun at an at the
Leetsdale Industrial Park, where a vapor cloud was released while a
worker was mixing a powdered chemical on Thursday.
Weatherford Artificial Lift Systems Inc. was evacuated
when an explosion occurred while a worker was blending 1,500 pounds of
ammonium persulfate in a machine.
Ammonium sulfate is a white to brownish, gray-colored
crystalline salt. t=92s most commonly used in fertilizers but also in
water purification. It=92s also a food additive.
Allegheny County emergency officials said a vapor
cloud was reported inside and outside the building along Leetsdale
Industrial Drive at about 8:30 a.m. Thursday.
=93They were faced with a significant vapor cloud
situation,=94 said Chief of Emergency Services Bob Full. =93The toxicity
of that cloud, though, was of such that we don=92t believe it to have
been harmful. One person had some minor injuries and has since been
released from Sewickley Valley Hospital.=94
No other injuries were immediately reported. Full said
any residents with health concerns should contact the Allegheny County
Health Department.
More than 500 employees at the industrial park were
evacuated. Also, nearby Quaker Valley High School was put on lockdown
briefly.
Weatherford is a Swiss-based corporation that makes
products used by gas and oil drillers.
The cause of the chemical release is being
investigated.
us_ia: Chemical Explosion In Maquoketa
There were some tense moments following an explosion
at a business in Maquoketa Thursday morning. Around 8:30, a chemical
reaction caused the lid to a 55 gallon drum to blow off. It happened at
a building owned by Dyna-Gear, located in the city industrial park at E.
Maple and Jacobson Drive. The explosion caused chemicals to spill out of
the drum and the building was evacuated.
"The Maquoketa Fire Department secured the scene. They
tried to identify the product and they sheltered everyone in place,"
said Lyn Medinger of Jackson County Emergency Management.
Then, Jackson County officials called Davenport's
Hazmat unit for help. Captain Ed Grothus of the Davenport Fire
Department says the chemical was identified as a catalyst that was being
stored in the building by another company, Plastics Unlimited out of
Preston, Iowa. Since the chemical is flammable and extremely corrosive
everyone in the building was moved out. The chemical can burn the skin
or irritate the lungs.
It took davenport hazmat crews two hours to get the
spill stabilized. Plastics Unlimited is responsible for the rest of the
cleanup.
Workers at Dyna-Gear were allowed to return to work.
No one was injured.
us_la: Seven Oil Spill Cleanup Workers
Hospitalized
HOPEDALE, La. (CN) - The Coast Guard pulled all 125
commercial fishing boats from oil cleanup efforts in Breton Sound off
the Louisiana coast Wednesday after several cleanup workers complained
of nausea, dizziness, headaches and chest pain. Seven workers remained
in the hospital Thursday.
A hospital spokeswoman told The Associated Press that
doctors believe the cause of illness may be chemical irritation and
dehydration from long hours working in the heat.
The Coast Guard saw to it that all crew members from
the 125 fishing boats were evaluated by medical workers as a
precaution.
West Jefferson Medical Center spokeswoman Taslin
Alphonso said the workers told doctors that they believe chemicals used
to break up the oil made them sick.
us_la
injuries
industrial
unknown_chemical
14 minutes ago edit delete
us_al:
Flomaton Wreck Leads To Meth Lab Discovery, Hazmat Situation
A Saturday night wreck in Flomaton led to the
discovery of a possible mobile meth lab, landed a Niceville man in the
Escambia County (Ala.) Detention Center and created a hazardous
materials incident.
Ronnie Eugene Ordis, Jr., 29, was charged with second
degree unlawful manufacturing of a controlled substance after
authorities found numerous items commonly used to manufacture
methamphetamine, according to Interim Flomaton Police Chief Kataris
Jenkins.
Ordis was southbound on Upper Creek Road about 7 p.m.
when he lost control and ran off the road. When Flomaton Police Officer
Jimmy Davis arrived at the scene, he reportedly began to question Ordis
and look in his vehicle. When Davis opened a small container in the
vehicle, an unknown substance irritated his eyes and nose. Davis was
later evaluated by Escambia County (Fla.) EMS and decontaminated by a
hazmat team from the Poarch Creek Fire Department.
us_de: No
injuries in early Sunday explosion/fire at Invista
A scare Sunday morning at the Invista plant in
Wilmington as a chemical fire lit up the sky. The ball of fire could be
seen in the sky from far and wide, and dispatch reported calls from New
Hanover, Pender, and Brunswick Counties. No one was injured.
The fire happened around 4:40am Sunday morning at the
plant which is located at 4600 Highway 421 North in Wilmington. Fire
crews responded, but Invista had the fire largely under
control.
us_dc: Union Station Evacuated
WASHINGTON - Union Station in the District was
evacuated Sunday afternoon at 1:45 p.m., due to chemical odors. At 3:00
p.m. people were let back inside, but Amtrak advises riders to expect
delays on trains of an hour or two into the evening.
Shortly before 1:30 p.m., DC Fire personnel responded
to a report that a battery power supply in a utility room was emitting
chemical odors. The utility room is in a building adjacent to Union
Station. They determined that some back up batteries had malfunctioned
and produced the smell.
An undetermined number of people reported feeling ill
from the odor.
Amtrak Spokesperson Marc Magliari said they evacuated
Union Station on the advice of DC Fire personnel. Passengers and
employees were moved out of the station and Amtrak trains were not
servicing the station during the evacuation.
Metro trains continued to run normally, but customers
could only use the street entrance/exit, Magliari said.
DC Fire says one adult male was transported to an area
hospital. Fire crews brought the situation under control and ventilated
the building.
Amtrak encouraged passengers to call 800-USA-RAIL or
visit Amtrak.com for schedule
information and train status updates.
uk: Dead
fish found after fire at chemical factory
Anglers in West Yorkshire have said hundreds of fish
have died after chemicals leaked into the River Colne following a fire
at a factory.
More than 150 firefighters tackled the blaze at
Grosvenor Chemicals in Linthwaite on 24 May.
The factory manufactured herbicides, pesticides and
glue-based products.
Despite concerns about the foam used to fight the
fire, initial Environment Agency tests showed herbicides to be the main
pollutant in the river.
Ray Collier, from the Slaithwaite Angling Club, said:
"It's sickening when you see the quality of the fish as well as the
numbers.
"Even the small fish, you know that they've probably
been born in this river, it's taken a long time to get to this stage
where they're reproducing in the river, and now they've just, in 24
hours, been wiped out."
Fish stocks in the Colne were only just recovering
from an earlier chemical leak at Slaithwaite in March
2008.
us_ny: Chemical spill cleared up
NIAGARA FALLS =97 An employee of a Hyde Park Avenue
environmental services company is in serious but stable condition after
suffering severe burns during a chemical spill Friday
morning.
The man, whose name has not
been released, was cleaning a tanker truck when the chemical iodine
pentafluoride leaked from the truck=92s tank.
=93He suffered first-, second-, and third-degree burns
on his arm,=94 Falls Fire Chief William MacKay said. =93He=92s condition
had been critical, but it has now been upgraded to
serious.=94
Falls firefighters were
first alerted to the spill at Tier Environmental Services, 33 S. Hyde
Park Blvd., just before 10 a.m. when a call came in reporting a =93medical
emergency.=94
Firefighters from the Royal
Avenue fire hall arrived and were greeted by what was described as =93a
visible cloud of vapor.=94 Other employees at the business were
evacuated and the first firefighters on the scene withdrew from the
building because of the chemical exposure inside.
Four firefighters and four Tier employees were taken
to Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center after they were exposed to
chemical vapors.
=93They are being evaluated, but it appears they did
not suffer any serious injuries,=94 MacKay said. =93We=92re confident
they=92ll be released (sometime Friday evening).=94
Nigeria:
Explosion - No Life Lost
Kaduna =97 The National Emergency Agency (NEMA)
yesterday denied reports that two persons died and over 300 hospitalised
in the gas cylinder explosion which occurred in Kakuri Industrial Area
of Kaduna State. The agency said no life was lost and that it
successfully brought the situation under control after much effort. It
said the explosion led to the hospitalisation of over 300, people mostly
women and children.
However, the Kaduna State government has ordered a
thorough investigation of the immediate and remote causes of the
explosion. This was directed by Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa.
The North-West Zone Co-ordinator of NEMA, Alhaji
Mustapha Suleiman, told LEADERSHIP the circumstances surrounding the
explosion.
He said, "No single life was lost in the explosion,
and I am glad to inform you that we have overcome the situation. We
realised that it was concentrated chlorine that became poisonous to the
people of the area and we used about five tankers of water to dilute it
and make it weak and remove the substance that became
hazardous.
canada: Woman suffers burns from splashed bleach
A woman was taken to hospital Monday afternoon with
first-degree chemical burns to her face, neck and head after her upper
body was splashed with a five-per-cent bleach cleaning solution,
paramedics said.
The incident occurred in a basement hallway of the
Good Companions seniors' centre on 670 Albert St. and Empress Avenue in
Centretown just after 3:30 p.m. It is not known if the four-gallon
container of cleaning solution ruptured or was spilled.
The woman, in her mid-40s, is a member of the cleaning
staff at the centre. She apparently did not suffer any respiratory
problems, said paramedic spokesman J.P. Trottier. She was taken to
hospital in serious but stable condition.
First-degree chemical burns -- the lower grade of
chemical burns -- are comparable to second-degree burns from heat
sources, Trottier said.
Meanwhile, the seniors' activity centre was evacuated
of about 12 people while a HAZMAT team of 11 personnel worked to clean
up the spill and ventilate the building, firefighters
said.
us_pa: Leetsdale Chemical Spill Brings Hazmat
Response, School Precautions
LEETSDALE, Pa. --
Allegheny County emergency and hazardous materials
crews were called to Weatherford's engineered chemistry center on
Thursday morning because of a chemical spill.
Channel 4 Action News' Bob Mayo reported that it
happened at the Leetsdale Industrial Park near Route 65 around 9
a.m.
Bob Full, the county's chief of emergency services
coordinator, identified the chemical as ammonium persulfate and said one
worker was treated at a hospital and released.
A chemical reaction released a cloud over the area,
but Full said the situation is "stabilized" and cleanup work is
continuing inside the building. The industrial park was evacuated of
about 500 people as a precaution.
Full said the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration and the county health department will investigate the
chemical spill.
Quaker Valley School District spokeswoman Martha Smith
said that the schools were not evacuated, but they took some precautions
like closing windows and canceling outdoor activities and a field trip.
It was not considered a "lockdown" situation, she said.
According to details posted on a government health
website, ammonium persulfate is a colorless or white sand-like powder.
It has a mild unpleasant odor and is used as a bleaching agent, food
preservative and polymerization inhibitor.
us_oh:
Delphos plant accident sends four to hospital
DELPHOS - Delphos Safety Services Director Gregory
Berquist reported on Wednesday afternoon that a chemical accident
occurred that morning at the city's waste water plant that resulted in
four individuals being taken to the hospital for treatment.
At approximately 10:15 a.m., chlorine and oxalic acid
were accidentally combined which resulted in the creation of a toxic
gas. The incident occurred during the loading of liquid chlorine into a
storage tank where it made contact with the oxalic acid. Berquist said a
determination of how the two chemicals mixed would not be made until
HazMat crews had cleared the contaminated area. He went on to report the
event was most likely the result of the chlorine being pumped into the
wrong storage tank or that a valve had been left open between two tanks
which allowed the chemicals to blend.
Three of the individuals who were transported to St.
Rita's Hospital were waste water plant employees and the fourth was an
employee of the chemical supplier. Individuals who are exposed to the
toxic gas can experience damage to the respiratory epithelium, the
lining of the respiratory tract that helps to moisten and protect the
airways.
Oxalic acid is about 3,000 times stronger than the
same amount of acetic acid. It is normally used as a cleaner or bleacher
and can be found in many cleaning products, especially those designed
for the removal of rust or rustproofing. Liquid chlorine is a key
ingredient in water purification.
The agencies that responded to the accident were the
Delphos Fire Department, Van Wert Fire Department, Allen County EMA, the
Allen County Sheriff's Office HazMat Team and the American Township Fire
Department.
Berquist reported the incident was completely
contained within the Delphos Waste Water Plant and that the community
and the city water system were never exposed to the
gas.
us_tn: Two Arrested After Mobile Meth Lab Seized
Responding to a call of trespassing on Old Charleston
Road, Bradley County Sheriff=92s patrol deputies on Tuesday say they
discovered components of a mobile meth lab in an
automobile.
During a consent search
deputies reprot locating a bottle that appeared to contain several known
substances used in methamphetamine and a coffee filter with several
grams of suspected meth. These items and other evidence will be sent to
a state lab for proper identification.
Both occupants of the vehicle, Keith Lee Johns, 31, of
Phoenix, and Jennifer Cathleen Terry, 24, of Maynardville Tennessee,
were arrested on charges related to the promotion, manufacture and
possession of methamphetamine.
Also
responding were the Bradley County Sheriff=92s Office Drug Enforcement
Unit, the Meth Task Force, and the DEA Hazmat Response Truck to assist
in the proper handling and disposal of the known hazardous chemicals and
contaminated items.
us_nj: Lacey police, fire units respond to marina fuel
spill
LACEY =97 Police and fire units responded to a boat
that was leaking diesel fuel at the Townsend Marina on Lacey Road early
Tuesday afternoon.
Fire Chief Kevin Flynn said fire and police responded
to the scene Tuesday at noon, following a report of a boat, which was
parked on land, was leaking an undetermined amount of fuel.
Flynn said the fuel was leaking from a large boat and
"was going into their parking lot and into the river."
The fire chief added that around 12:30 p.m. the
Berkeley Township HazMat team was called in to examine the
situation.
The boat's fuel tank, which Flynn said he believed had
a capacity of greater than 30
gallons of fuel, "was empty by the time police and the
fire department arrived."
The state Department of Environmental Protection, the
Coast Guard and Marine Police were notified.
us_sc:
Minor Injuries Reported After Chemical Spill In Anderson Co.
PIEDMONT, S.C. --
EMS and
Anderson Fire Officials treated a firefighter for heat exhaustion while
hospital officials treated a gas station employee for chemical exposure
after a truck driver found an acrylonitrile leak Wednesday
morning.
The leak, reported at a 110
Frontage Road Pilot truck stop off exit 36 from I-85, shut down the
truck stop for hours as officials patched it and cleaned
up.
The driver discovered the
leak after sleeping in his tanker truck carrying the chemical when he
woke up Wednesday morning.
He put a
bucket under the leak, which Anderson Fire Chief Billy Gibson said a
valve caused, and called first responders.
Anderson County=92s Hazmat Team responded, along with
Anderson Fire, EMS and the Anderson County Sheriff=92s
Office.
A gas station maintenance
worker came in contact with the chemical. Gibson said the chemical
causes a burning sensation and irritation.
us_ny:
Philips Lighting Factory Fire - WETM 18 Online
Bath, N.Y. - Employees were evacuated at a Bath
factory when a chemical blaze ignited this Wednesday morning. A water
reactive chemical ignited a smoke fire at the Phillips Lighting Factory
in Bath. Emergency Management officials say the smoke was coming out of
a 55-gallon waste drum, which was later taken outside and
contained.
Investigators are not sure what caused the chemical to
ignite, but they think it may have been caused by some left over damp
materials or humid weather conditions. There were no injuries reported,
but employees are expected back at work tomorrow.
us_ny
fire
response
industrial
waste
