RESPONSE
TO FIRE AND CHEMICAL SPILL FELL SHORT, MOST AGREE || ONLINEATHENS.COM, http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/080810/new_692234254.shtml
State and
local officials admit they would've done some things differently in the
response to a fire and chemical spill at a Clarke County plant, and
already are looking at last month's disaster to see if they should
change any procedures.
A massive fire at J&J Chemical Co. off Olympic
Drive unleashed a flood of toxic water July 28 into Trail Creek, a
tributary of the North Oconee River, after Athens-Clarke firefighters
poured an estimated 740,000 gallons of water on the fire. At first, they
thought they could save the building, then were trying to keep the fire
from spreading to nearby woods or businesses.
The
runoff carried a load of toxic formaldehyde and paradichlorobenzene,
along with a bright dye that colored the water blue at least as far
downstream as the Oconee River at Whitehall Road.
The
chemicals killed an estimated 15,000 fish in Trail Creek and some of its
tributaries, but posed little threat to human health, drinking water or
wildlife downstream in the North Oconee or Oconee rivers, said state
officials, who nevertheless warned people to avoid contact with the
contaminated water.
But warnings from the local government and the state
Environmental Protection Division were too little and too late,
complained many, including elected Clarke County officials, some of whom
didn't learn of the chemical contamination until days after the fire,
nor the spill until constituents began asking about the blue
water.
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FORT SMITH, Ark. --
The Fort
Smith Fire Department and Hazmat crew were called Saturday morning to
clean up a hydrochloric acid spill.
A
Schlumberger semitrailor leaked the acid onto the Zero Street exit of
Interstate 540 in Fort Smith.
The
street was closed from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m. while the crews used
neutralizing powder on the spill and swept it up.
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Village
staff said an accident that caused employees to evacuate the wastewater
treatment plant in Dexter on Wednesday was caused by a miscommunication
from a private company delivering chemicals to the
facility.
=93The driver told a village staff member that he
would fill the chlorine first,=94 Nicholls said.
Instead,
the driver connected a hose that fed bisulfate (an acid) into the
plant=92s chlorine storage container, which caused the release of
chlorine gas, which is extremely harmful to mucus membranes such as the
eyes, nasal passage and lungs.
=93As soon as the chemical
went into the tank a reaction occurred that was witnessed by the village
employee,=94 Nicholls said. =93A village utility employee monitors all
chemical deliveries.=94
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MASON,
Mich. -- Fire crews have contained a fire at the Americhem Plant in
Mason, Mich.
The fire started just before
3 p.m. inside of the scale house, which is where trucks go to load
chemicals.
Nobody was injured in the
fire and no evacuations were ordered.
Americhem Sales Corporation makes paint and
varnishes.
According to the company's
website there is a 500,000 gallon oil tank inside of the
plant.
However, the fire did not
spread to nearby silos containing chemicals.
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The Eagan Fire Department tells 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that
six people have been taken to Regions Hospital after a strong chemical
odor was discovered at the Crown Plaza Hotel.
The fire
department says a 20-year employee of the hotel accidently combined what
she thought were two like chemicals. Instead the chemicals combined
causing a violent reaction. The reaction produced a gas called
Phosgene which can cause severe respiratory distress and can be
deadly.
The two chemicals combined were Destainer and Sour
VII. The fire department reports as many as 75 emergency responders
responded to the scene. The hotel had about 80 guests who were
evacuated. Five of the six taken to Regions have been released, one will
remain overnight Friday for observation
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Fire and hazardous material crews shut off the supply
of noxious gas this morning, about three hours after the chemical was
detected inside the building of an industrial part of northern San
Jose.
"We discovered that nothing
was flammable,'' said San Jose Fire Capt. Chuck Rangel, adding that
workers at JDSU on 80 Rose Orchard were soon allowed to reenter the
plant. The company makes optical products for the communications
industry.
Employees discovered a leak
of phosphine gas about 7:15 a.m., Rangel said, and early readings showed
the concentration was 18 parts per billion, which means the gas wasn't
in the explosive range, but could pose breathing problems. Workers were
evacuated.
Rangel said it appeared as
though one cylinder was leaking, and that device was moved to a special
gas room to be taken care of. Haz-mat crews waited outside until they
determined the gas would not ignite when they walked in, and then turned
off the gas valve about 10:30 a.m., Rangel said.
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Two
people were injured in a chemical spill about noon today at a Richardson
business.
Acid spill at business
One employee was taken to Methodist Richardson Medical
Center, and the other was treated at the scene, said Assistant Chief
Steve Dossett of the Richardson Fire Department.
The
accident occurred when a valve on a nitric acid tank broke, spilling
about 90 gallons of the toxic, corrosive material at the business in the
600 block of International Parkway, near Alpha Drive.
Dossett
said he was unsure what type of business the incident occurred at. He
said firefighters have contained the spill and are waiting for a
contractor to clean up the acid.
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MASON =97 An explosion and
fire that destroyed a building at Americhem Sales Corp. this afternoon
remains under investigation.
No one was seriously hurt in the incident that
involved a truck containing mineral spirits, a chemical used in paint
thinners.
At about 3 p.m., a tanker containing up to 7,000
gallons of mineral spirits entered a weighing facility and either blew
up or sparked a fire, said Bruce Whetter, Americhem=92s
president.
Employees were evacuated from Americhem, 340 North St.
in Mason.
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FAA Proposes Hazmat Civil Penalties Against 12
Companies
ATLANTA =97 The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
is proposing civil penalties ranging from $54,000 to $97,500 against 12
companies for alleged violations of Department of Transportation
Hazardous Materials Regulations. The cases filed by the FAA=92s Southern
Region include:
$91,000 against Boston Scientific Corporation of
Natick, Mass, for allegedly offering a fiberboard box containing
medical-grade silicone fluid, a flammable liquid, to DHL for
transportation by air from Alajuela, Costa Rica, to Boston Scientific
headquarters, Oct. 23, 2009. The shipment was undeclared. DHL employees
at its Cincinnati sorting hub discovered the leaking
package.
$65,000 against Flight
Options, LLC of Cleveland, for allegedly offering a fiberboard box
containing isopropyl alcohol, a flammable liquid, to UPS for
transportation by air from Cleveland to Las Vegas, Sept. 9, 2009. The
shipment was undeclared. UPS workers at the Louisville, Ky., sorting hub
discovered the leaking package.
$58,000
against Kemet Electronics Corporation of Simpsonville, S.C. for
allegedly offering a fiberboard box containing silver paint, a flammable
liquid, to UPS for transportation by air from Brownsville, Texas to
Simpsonville, Aug. 20, 2009. The shipment was undeclared. UPS workers at
the Louisville sorting hub discovered the leaking
package.
$56,000 against MSI Aircraft
MTC SVS International, GMBH of Ruesselsheim, Germany, for allegedly
offering a fiberboard box containing a fuel control unit, to FedEx for
transportation by air from Ruesselsheim to Miami, May 22, 2009. The
shipment was undeclared. A fuel control unit containing jet fuel is
considered a hazardous material. FedEx employees at Fort Lauderdale
discovered the shipment was leaking.
$97,500
against UPS of Louisville for allegedly accepting a fiberboard box
containing alcohol, a flammable liquid, for transportation by air from
San Antonio, Texas, to Reno, Nev., Jan. 14, 2010. The box was marked to
indicate it contained hazardous materials. UPS workers at the Louisville
sorting hub discovered the leaking package.
$65,000 against Federal Express of Memphis, Tenn., for
allegedly accepting a fiberboard box containing an unspecified toxic,
corrosive liquid classified as a poison, for transportation by air from
Oxford, Ala., to Chino Calif., April 1, 2010. An FAA hazardous materials
special agent identified the mislabeled shipment before it could be
loaded on an aircraft.
$78,000
against Westfield Coatings Corp., of Westfield, Mass., for allegedly
offering a fiberboard box containing paint, a flammable liquid, for
transportation by air from Westfield to Hudson, N.C., August 11, 2009.
The shipment was undeclared. UPS workers at the Louisville sorting hub
discovered the non-hazardous material leaking from the
package.
$54,000 against Vitacost.com of Lexington, N.C., for
allegedly offering a fiberboard box containing a flammable liquid and
non-hazardous material for transportation by air from Lexington to Boca
Raton, Fla., Jan. 29, 2010. The shipment was undeclared. UPS workers at
the Louisville sorting hub discovered the leaking
package. $91,000 against Cardinal
Health of Madison, Miss., for allegedly offering a fiberboard box
containing skin care products containing alcohol, a flammable liquid, to
DHL for transportation by air from Madison to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin
Islands, Sept. 11, 2009. The shipment was undeclared. DHL workers at the
Cincinnati sorting hub discovered the leaking package.
$54,000 against PSS Medical of Lubbock, Texas for
allegedly offering a fiberboard box containing ammonium nitrate, a
corrosive material, to UPS for transportation by air from Lubbock to Las
Cruces, N.M., Dec. 31, 2009. The shipment was undeclared. UPS workers at
the Louisville sorting hub discovered the package while sorting packages
for shipment and delivery.
$54,000
against the Hammelman Corporation, Dayton, Ohio, for allegedly offering
a fiberboard box containing methanol, a flammable liquid, for
transportation by air from Pompano Beach, Fla., to Dayton, March 23,
2010. The shipment was undeclared. UPS workers at the Louisville sorting
hub discovered the leaking package.
$54,000
against Fragrance Resources, Inc., of Clifton, N.J., for allegedly
offering a fiberboard box containing a flammable liquid for
transportation by air from Clifton to Ft Lauderdale, Fla., Dec. 23,
2009. The shipment was undeclared. UPS workers at the Louisville sorting
hub discovered the package.
In all
instances, the companies allegedly offered the hazardous material for
transportation (or, in the cases of UPS and Federal Express, accepted
it) when it was not packaged, marked, classed, described, labeled or in
condition for shipment as required by regulations.
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FALKVILLE =97 C.J. Juzwiak said she was in the office
of RV Refrigerator here Friday when she heard an =93explosive=94 sound
from the shop.
She said the business=92 owner, Eldred Sims, rushed to
the sink at the front of the building at 4279 U.S. 31 South and began
washing ammonia from his face.
=93I helped wash him and
called 911,=94 said Juzwiak, who is visiting the Sims family, which
lives next door to the company.
Sims=92 wife, Mary Ann Sims,
said her husband was charging a cooling unit when a glass cylinder
holding aqueous ammonia apparently leaked and exploded.
Authorities said an ambulance transported Eldred Sims, 68,
first to Hartselle Medical Center for treatment. An ambulance later
transported him to Huntsville Hospital.
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FAST FACTS:
Hazmat crews were called into Midtown Memphis this
morning.
Someone discovered
hydrochloric acid leaking from a railroad tanker.
Crews were able to get it cleaned up, but not before
threatening an evacuation and shutting down traffic.
(Memphis
8/6/2010) More than a dozen fire trucks filled the area on Southern
Avenue between Haynes and Semmes around 6 am. Andrea Bailey had no idea
what was going on.
"I came in from work and I pulled up in the driveway
and I saw all these fire trucks and all kind of police and stuff. I
stopped a lady out there and she said it was some kind of hazardous
[material] going in the air," said Bailey.
She lives
at the corner of Haynes and Southern Avenue just blocks away from the
leaking railroad tanker.
There were fumes rising from the top of
the container which was filled with hydrochloric acid
residue.
"I'm wondering what's going in my house, is my house
blowing up? That's what I really though," added Bailey.
"Workers
were working on the tanker truck, there were bolts on the top that
rusted out and it was allowing vapor to be released from the tanker,"
said LT. Wayne Cooke from the Memphis Fire Department.
At the
height of rush hour traffic, Southern Avenue had to be shut down for
about a half a mile while hazmat crews worked to contain the
leak.
