Links to details available at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas<
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HAMPSHIRE, TX -- A section of I-10 is shut down until
at least tomorrow night after a hazardous chemical
leak.
A big rig carrying the flammable chemical isobutene
collided with a pickup early yesterday morning, completely shutting down
the freeway from Highway 73 near Winnie to FM 365.
DPS says
early yesterday morning, the 18-wheeler driver tried to pass a Ford
pickup hauling a race car. The rig driver says he thought he saw
oncoming traffic and tried to get out of the way when he hit the
Ford.
Nearly 70 residents of a nearby subdivision had to be
evacuated to a Red Cross shelter.
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SAN
FRANCISCO=97San Francisco fire officials say one person was taken to the
hospital after a chemical was accidentally released into the air at a
recycling facility at Pier 96.
Lt. Mindy Talmadge says a
box containing ammonium phosphate=97a white powder found in
fertilizer=97broke while going down a conveyer belt at West Coast
Recycling around 6:30 a.m. Friday.
One person was taken to the
hospital complaining of eye irritation.
Talmadge
says about a dozen other people had their eyes flushed at the scene, and
the building was evacuated.
Talmadge says the area is being cleaned up and workers
should be able to return to the facility later in the
day.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB Fox 41) -- Employees of The
Chestnut Center at the corner of 4th St. and Chestnut St. in
downtown Louisville were evacuated Friday morning after several
were sickened by a chemical smell.
Several fourth
floor occupants complained of dizziness and throat irritation,
so the entire building -- upwards of 200 people -- was
evacuated.
The evacuation took place shortly before 9:00
a.m. Several trucks from the Louisville Fire Department were on the
scene, as were representatives from the Louisville Metro Police
Department.
Two ambulances were also on hand.
Twenty-one people were treated at the scene and were not
transported to area hospitals.
Fire and hazmat crews could
not find any hazardous chemicals in the area and established that there
was no threat to human life. Employees were allowed back into the
building two hours and 30 minutes after the initial
call.
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PORT ST.
LUCIE =97 With hands secured by yellow handcuffs, Sergiy Matirniy on
Friday said he developed an interest in chemistry at school when he was
about 13.
=93First time I (saw) periodic table of elements,
that=92s when it hit me,=94 Matirniy, 25, said in a small room at the
St. Lucie County jail. =93Within few weeks I knew it all by heart,
numbers, atomic weights, Latin names.=94
The
Ukrainian-born Matirniy said he assembled his equipment over the past
several years as part of his hobby.
That equipment, St. Lucie
County Sheriff Ken Mascara said Thursday, was suspected of being part of
a complex methamphetamine lab, capable of producing 2 ounces of the drug
in a half-hour =97 a =93tremendous=94 amount.
Not so,
Matirniy said.
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LAS VEGAS
=97 High concentrations of a chemical similar to bleach seeped into a
pool at the MGM Grand on the Las Vegas Strip on Friday, causing hotel
officials to evacuate some 1,500 guests and sending at least 26 people
to local hospitals with breathing problems.
Richard Brenner of the Clark County Fire Department
said sodium hypochlorite went into the hotel's lazy river pool when a
valve used to the control the chemical malfunctioned and remained
on.
"People started smelling
chlorine," Brenner said. "It doesn't take much to set our nose
off."
About 100 people had trouble
breathing but did not need to go to hospitals, said Brenner, the
department's hazardous materials coordinator.
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