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Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2010 07:19:57 -0400
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From: Ralph Stuart <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: Chemical Safety headlines from Google
Corrosive chemicals affected more than a dozen people
at a trucking company Friday morning when an industrial solvent spilled
during transport.
Authorities cordoned off part of the Old Dominion Freight
Line facility at 2921 Dawson Road after a punctured 55-gallon drum of
chloromethyl naphtalene spewed dangerous vapors, Fire Department
spokesman Bill French said.
Emergency
crews responded shortly before 10 a.m. and decontaminated 15 workers.
Medics took nine of them to hospitals. The worst of the injuries was
suffered by a 46-year-old man who was taken to St. John Medical Center
in fair condition, according to authorities.
Although
most of the other employees had only minor exposure, even slight
chemical contact is potentially dangerous, French said.
"Any time
you get any kind of corrosive or acid into your system it can easily
cause =97 because of the soft tissue inside your respiratory system =97
it can potentially cause some serious problems," he said.
The
workers stripped off their clothes in a blue decontamination tent
outside the building, and firefighters doused them with soapy water to
remove any chemical residue.
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(ABC 6
NEWS) -- The Rochester Fire Department's Hazmat team responded to a home
that became toxic after the resident tried to unclog a sink drain using,
what seemed like simple household chemicals.
But what
happened is becoming more common for fire crews.
David
Hunter's trailer in southeast Rochester is airing out, after a toxic
combination of chemicals forced him and his family to evacuate Thursday
evening.
"I poured liquid plumber down the drain, two hours
later I poured Runo down the drain and two hours later I poured another
bottle of liquid plumber," says Hunter.
And that
created a chemical so toxic, that even he didn't want us to go inside
more than 12 hours later.
"It bubbled up started smoking and burning my eyes and
I couldn't breathe so I got out of the house," says
Hunter.
The Rochester Fire Department's Hazmat team
responded.
But, Chief Steven Belau says these calls are more
common than you think.
"About once a month," he says.
We had
Chief Belau demonstrate what can happen when acetic acid and sodium
bicarbonate, both commonly used in household cleaners, are mixed
together.
"You'll be able to see a chemical reaction as the two
combine," he says.
Although this combination isn't toxic, it is
poisonous.
"Anytime you mix an ammonia-based product with a
bleach or an acid you get a bad chemical reaction...scratchy throat
irritated eyes if you're exposed for too long you can develop something
called Pulmonary Edema which is where the little air sacks in the lungs
lead fluid and it causes trouble breathing," he says.
A lesson,
David Hunter learned the hard way.
"Don't mix two chemicals,
use a product by itself and use it according to the label," says Capt.
Ken Dose of the Rochester Fire Department.
Fire
officials say if you accidentally combine chemicals and it creates a
toxic reaction, you need to leave that area and call
911.
-----------------------
A 46-year-old man directly exposed to a corrosive
chemical has been treated and released from the
hospital.
Tulsa Fire Department Hazmat
crews contained a chemical leak that sent nine workers to the
hospital.
The leak happened around 10 a.m. at Old Dominion
Freight Line in the 2900 block of Dawson Road in North
Tulsa.
FOX23=92s Abbie Alford was the first on the scene to
report the danger the chemical, Chloromethyl Naphatalene can pose to a
person.
A 55-gallon drum filled with the corrosive chemical to
clean industrial materials exposed 15 employees to the dangerous
fumes.
The chemicals seeped from a hole in a drum that the
TFD says was punctured while it was being transported to Old Dominion
Freight Line Friday morning.
"Instead of doing something safer with it, they
basically turned it over on its side and let the exposed hole up in the
air," says TFD District Chief Bill French.
The
exposure sent a 46-year-old man immediately to the hospital and eight
other were also de-contaminated before going to the
hospital.
EMSA says the remaining workers refused hospital
treatment.
"With this particular chemical some of the signs were
not even present for the first 15 to 20 minutes," says EMSA Paramedic
Chris Stevens.
-----------------------
NEW RIVER
- Fighting smoke and flames is hazardous enough, but when that smoke is
filled with toxic chemicals, the job gets more
dangerous.
What fueled a fire in New River near 7th Street and
Desert Hills had firefighters concerned from the
get-go.
They told FOX 10 that chemicals from a suspected meth
lab triggered several explosions -- another example of the dangers
firefighters face when they arrive on a scene.
Later,
the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office determined the home was not a
suspected meth lab, but that the explosions were spurred by something
else still being investigated.
Toxic smoke from the
chemicals got into the lungs of two firefighters. They were taken to an
area hospital.
Crews decided it was too dangerous to fight the blaze
any further, so the backed off and let it burn.
Cindy
Cherry, who lives miles away from the scene, called 911. She said she
could hear explosions coming from the home and watched how fast it went
up in flames, and it taught her a lesson.
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BROOKSVILLE - A leaking bottle of polish under a sink caused
12 Central High School ROTC students to get sick
Friday.
One teacher also was taken to the hospital for heat
exhaustion, firefighters said.
Hernando County Fire Rescue
was called shortly before 10 a.m. for a suspicious gas leak, according
to scanner reports.
Paramedics took the students to local hospitals after
they complained of nausea and vomiting.
Normal
school operations resumed an hour later after a HazMat unit determined
the source of the leak and isolated the building, said Lt. Cinda Moore,
a spokeswoman with the Hernando County Sheriff's
Office.
The only chemicals known to be stored in the building
are cleaning supplies, said Assistant Chief Frank DeFrancesco, a fire
rescue spokesman.
"It was a container of polish with bleach in it and
some of it leaked out under the sink," he said. "Whatever was residual
there on the surface under the sink mixed with it and it caused a
reaction. That's what we think happened."
Principal
Joe Clifford said shortly before noon everything was back to normal at
the school. Both he and Superintendent Bryan Blavatt were angry about
initial media reports classifying it as a gas leak.
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