A FIREFIGHTER
maimed in a factory explosion could have been spared his horrific
injuries had there been warning signs about the dangerous chemicals
inside, a coroner has found.
Veteran firefighter Richard
Zapart almost died after chemical vapours caused a sudden blast at
Japanese Screens and Interiors in Yarraville in October 2007.
The factory,
which had just passed a council safety inspection, did not have external
HAZCHEM signs despite using potentially explosive chemicals.
Coroner
Heather Spooner yesterday said Mr Zapart and three colleagues who
entered the factory to investigate a smouldering fan had no idea of the
dangers that lay inside.
HOUSTON - Workers were evacuated
from a building in southeast Houston for almost two hours after chlorine
was released inside.
More than 100 employees were forced to leave the
Handy Hardware Wholesale, Inc. building when firefighters arrived at
approximately 9 p.m. Sunday.
Firefighters found a large
pallet of boxed chlorine that had spontaneously exploded. The leaked
chemical fell onto the ground and its fumes were released.
The Houston
Fire Department Hazardous Materials Response Team cleaned the spill and
allowed the chemical release to escape through the warehouse bay
doors.
VICTORIAN authorities have new guidelines for
chemical safety after a coroner's finding into a 2007 fire at a
Yarraville factory
Coroner Heather Spooner yesterday found that
nitrocellulose, commonly used as an ingredient in lacquer, was
responsible for the ''extraordinary'' fire at the Hall Street factory
that housed Japanese Screens and Interiors.
She found that the firefighters
who fought the blaze were compromised by a lack of signs about the
hazardous material on site. Under the new guidelines, suppliers of
nitrocellulose products will be subject to checks to determine whether
they are complying with occupational health and safety obligations and a
register of known nitrocellulose product purchasers will be
established.
Two
northbound lanes of Interstate 95 have been cleared after a rollover
crash and chemical spill near Congress Avenue caused delays for hours
this afternoon.
The two blocked outside lanes, just south of
Congress, were open as of 7 p.m., the Florida Highway Patrol web site
indicated. Crews spent nearly four hours cleaning up the spill after a
crash involving three vehicles shortly after 3 p.m.
There were no
injuries reported, a Boca Raton Fire Rescue news release
stated.
A pool cleaning truck, a medium-sized box truck and
one car were involved, the release stated. The box truck, containing a
small amount of resins and acetones in 5-gallon drums, rolled over and
spilled a small amount of resin onto the roadway, the release
stated.
DEVELOPING: EMS TREATING MAN FOR
CHEMICAL EXPOSURE AT CHARLESTON FIRE STATION | WCBD-TV 2,
http://www2.counton2.com/news/2010/
aug/23/developing-ems-treating-man-chemical-exposure-char-ar-739416/
CHARLESTON,
S.C. --
Charleston County EMS is
treating a man exposed to an unknown chemical, after he slept in a
boxcar.
According to Charleston Fire Department Spokesman
Mark Ruppel, the man is isolated at the Fire Station on Wentworth
Street. He is breathing, and appears to be ok.
Ruppel says
the man walked into the CFD Headquarters this morning complaining that
his skin is burning and his hair was falling out.
A Hazerdous
Materials team is on the scene trying to determine what the chemical
is.
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Los Angeles Firefighters, dispatched to an odor
investigation, arrived quickly at a three story garden-style apartment
building to learn of an irritating odor in or near a 3rd floor unit
undergoing renovation.
With three persons from the
premises initially complaining of respiratory irritation, first arriving
crews immediately extracted and isolated the ill, while summoning an
LAFD Hazardous Materials response.
Occupants of the 64-unit
building were calmly led upwind to fresh air in a well-coordinated
fashion that kept them safe yet separate from those who exhibited minor
illness following possible fume exposure.
With a
Command Post and perimeter established and key building systems secured,
LAFD HazMat experts donned protective gear as their colleagues commenced
a detailed medical assessment of all five residents now complaining of
respiratory irritation.
A comprehensive sweep of the
42,000 square-foot building with sophisticated sensing devices yielded
no immediate or escalating hazard.
Following exposure to fresh air
and the brief use of medical oxygen, the symptoms experienced by all
five residents soon subsided, and each declined offered medical
treatment and transportation.
No other illness or injuries
were reported.
Though the odor dissipated and its source was
undetermined, LAFD responders surmise it may have been related to
aerosol insecticide or oven cleaner being used in the apartment
undergoing renovation.
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The
Fallon/Churchill Volunteer Fire Department along with the Federal Fire
Department at Naval Air Station Fallon responded to n hydrochloric acid
leak at the city's water plant Monday afternoon.
Others called
out included Fallon Police Department, paramedics from Banner Churchill
Community Hospital and a HAZMAT response team.
Fallon Mayor
Ken Tedford Jr. said the acid leaked from a holding tank. Employees were
evacuated, and no injuries were reported. Tedford said the spill is
under investigation. He could not elaborate on the cause of the
leak.
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A faulty valve caused about
3,000 galloons of liquid oxygen to leak onto Missouri Boulevard on
Monday afternoon.
According to Jefferson City Fire Department reports,
a valve broke on a truck hauling 6,000 gallons of liquid oxygen around
1:40 p.m. as it was traveling in the 500 block of Missouri Boulevard.
This was near the rear of St. Mary=92s Health Center and across the
street from the hospital=92s accounting building.
As a
precaution, 50 people working in the accounting building were
evacuated.
The Cole County HAZMAT Team was called in to stand
by and officials with DNR were also called in.
Eventually
the valve was repaired and the workers were allowed to return to their
office building.
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As soon as local authorities realized what happened
hazmat crews quickly descended upon the Quakertown Municipal
Pool.
"Some of our employees were performing daily
maintenance on the pool. Two regular chemicals that we use on a daily
basis came together and had a reaction which turned into chlorine gas,"
said Quakertown Managing Director Scott McElree.
As a result,
early responders immediately evacuated the pool area, Quakertown
Memorial Park, several nearby homes, and a few buildings including the
local public library.
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More than 120 people were sickened Monday by the
leak of ammonia at the Millard Refrigerated Services plant in Theodore.
Hospital officials in Mobile said 29 people were admitted, including
four in intensive care. Scores of people were forced to remain in their
homes and at a school after the leak was reported. The leak also forced
workers to evacuate one of BP=92s main staging areas for the Gulf of
Mexico oil spill cleanup. BP said dozens of cleanup workers from its
Theodore site were among those taken to hospitals.
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FULTON COUNTY, Ga. -- Fulton
County Hazmat and HERO crews cleaned up diesel fuel spilled over several
hundred yards of I-85 South near the Flat Shoals Road bridge.
Fulton County Chief Fire Marshal Keith Padgett told
CBS Atlanta that a tractor trailer lost a tire, and shards from the tire
apparently ruptured the truck's diesel 125 gallon fuel tank.
An estimated 40-50 gallons leaked across all four
lanes of I-85 South.
Fulton County units have
plugged the hole and worked with HERO units to suck up what they could
and cover the rest with an absorbent.
-----------------------
ANCHORAGE,
Alaska (KTVA-CBS 11 News) Anchorage Police say they evacuated the Fred
Meyer store off of Northern Lights Boulevard and New Seward, after a
chemically activated bomb went off during a late night back to school
shopping session on Saturday. APD says no one was hurt, however the
people who were out late Saturday night back to school shopping, still
got quite a scare.
Police say just before 11
pm, what looked like a plastic water container exploded from gas
pressure in isle four in the Fred Meyer store. APD says the store was
evacuated for a period of time, but they are not sure exactly how long
that was.
Anchorage Fire Department officials say after
everyone cleared out of harms way, they tested some samples from the
bottle with their hazardous materials equipment. It tested 97% muriatic
acid, a hydrochloric acid commonly used for industrial
cleaning.
Fire officials say they were able to neutralize the
substance with baking soda, provided by Fred Meyer. APD says this goes
beyond a prank and is a very serious offense.
"Lots of
times, young people especially, because that's who I am seeing on the
internet constructing these kind of devices, young people think that
either their a young person, or this is just a funny thing so it's not a
serious offense. This caused a great deal of disruption, but it's also
placing other peoples lives and well being in jeopardy, and we will
prosecute criminally when we determine who is responsible for this act,"
said
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A strange smell at the FEMA
center in Antioch sent four people to the hospital Saturday and forced
authorities to evacuate the building and Hickory Hollow Mall.
The FEMA Center is in the old J.C. Penney building
at the mall. Employees there told emergency medical workers they felt
sick from a strange smell.
Hazardous
materials specialists and Homeland Security employees began evacuating
the building and the mall at about 10:30 a.m.
Agents searched for a cause of the odor but didn't
find anything. There was concern a gas leak may have occurred, but gas
was not running to the building, authorities said.
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NILES =97 A
gasoline leak on Saturday morning on a section of Third Street referred
to as "Tank Town" may have caused nearly 20,000 gallons of gas to spew
onto the ground, authorities say.
The spill at a tank at the Niles
North Terminal owned by Buckeye Partners, L.P., 2303 S. Third St.,
happened at 8:37 a.m. and was capped at 10:08 a.m.
Niles
Township Fire Chief Gary Brovold said the spill may have occurred when a
flange connecting pipes near the tank came apart, causing a spill six
feet in diameter. The unleaded premium gas was being pumped to a tanker
truck at a loading rack farther away.
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AUGLAIZE CO., Ohio -- A two
vehicle accident has shutdown all northbound lanes and all but one
southbound lane of Interstate 75 near U.S. 33.
An SUV slid on wet pavement trying to enter I-75
south from U.S. 33 around 3:15 p.m., the Ohio State Highway Patrol said.
A semi truck on the highway tried to avoid the SUV but went into the
median, struck a barrier wire, and knocked down an overheard
sign.
Auglaize County HazMat was
called to the scene to clean up an estimated 60-100 gallons of diesel
fuel spilled onto the way by the semi truck.
The semi truck was loaded with lime, but the
substance does not pose a safety risk, OSP said.
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(TULSA)- Hazmat crews were called to the QuikTrip at
47th and Yale Ave. Saturday morning for a meth lab in a trash
can.
An employee called authorities after noticing some
unusual items.
Police say there were bottles, hoses abd other items
that tested positive for a meth lab.
Crews cleaned up the scene and
no one was injured.
-----------------------
Chemicals found leaking in
home
Sulfur dioxide found leaking from old
fridge
Wethersfield, Conn. (WTNH) - Hazmat crews responded
to a home on Wolcott Road in Wethersfield due to an old fridge that was
said to be leaking hazardous chemicals.
-----------------------
ROCKVILLE =97 A UConn physics professor whose Storrs
neighborhood was evacuated when his 13-year-old son detonated a homemade
bomb in January routinely helped the boy make bombs and had some of the
ingredients shipped to his work address, police said.
That and
other details of the state's case against Juha Javanainen are laid out
in a warrant for his arrest. Javanainen, 56, was charged June 16 with
first-degree reckless endangerment and risk of injury to a
minor.
Javanainen appeared briefly Friday in Superior Court
in Rockville, where his case was continued to Sept. 17. He continues to
work as a professor at the University of Connecticut, his lawyer, Mark
Hauslaib, said outside the courtroom.
Javanainen's son also was
arrested; his case is in juvenile court.
-----------------------
The massive oil spill in the
Gulf of Mexico has had a trickledown effect in Utah.
A federal
agency that has been asked to look into the April 20 spill from the BP
oil rig has temporarily halted some of its smaller investigations,
including one in the Top of Utah at the Silver Eagle Refinery.
Earlier this
summer, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee asked the U.S.
Chemical Safety Board to examine the Deepwater Horizon rig
explosion.
The board, which investigates chemical accidents,
had probed another accident at a BP plant in Texas.
But in taking
on the Gulf spill investigation, the agency said it had to suspend and
perhaps terminate other investigations because it was overburdened with
cases.
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NORTH VERNON,
Ind. =97 Sheriff=92s deputies suspect the explosion of a methamphetamine
lab destroyed a Jennings County mobile home.
The explosion
and fire occurred Thursday on Road 850W near Elizabethtown, according to
Jennings County Sheriff=92s Department.
Once firefighters from Geneva
Township extinguished the flames, deputies found what appeared to be the
remains of a meth lab inside.
Investigators believe a chemical
reaction from the meth production caused the explosion.
The home=92s
occupants were gone by the time emergency workers arrived on the scene;
no injuries were reported.
After obtaining a search
warrant, deputies entered the remains of the home to find several items,
including paint thinner and pseudoephedrine, associated with meth
production.
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