BEAUMONT
HAZMAT CREW CLEANING CHEMICAL LEAK, http://www.theexaminer.com/main.asp?Se
ctionID=1&SubSectionID=61&ArticleID=4230<
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The
Beaumont Fire Department's hazmat crew is cleaning a chemical waste leak
inside of an 18-wheel tractor trailer after the rig was stopped for a
routine department of transportation safety inspection.
Beaumont
police officer Troy Wagner said he and another officer noticed a
substance leaking from the back of the trailer during the inspection.
The hazmat crew is still trying to determine where the leak is coming
from as there were several blue 50-gallon drums of chemical waste that
were secured inside the trailer. Hazmat crews were still trying to
figure out what kind of chemical waste was leaking; however they were
taking extreme precaution because of the "flammable" and "corrosive"
placards on the side of the trailer to indicate the danger of the
chemical waste.
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HANOVER, Pa. =97 West Manheim Township Police charged
an elderly couple with obstructing police and emergency services after
they refused to let firefighters through the right of way to fight a
dangerous gas leak at a neighbor's house.
West
Manheim Police Chief Tim Hippensteel said the couple Nevin and Miriam
Barnhart, both 79, have a 23-year history of ongoing harassment of
others using the driveway at 2888 Baltimore Pike, which leads to other
properties as well.
But the Barnharts say they never argued with
officials, and that the issue was that the truck couldn't make the turn
off Baltimore Pike into the drive without causing
damage.
Police and emergency personnel were sent to 2904
Baltimore Pike on Dec. 2 for a reported natural-gas leak. The driveway
between the Barnharts' property and the one next door also serves three
residences, including the one with the leak, police
said.
Officer Paul Heffner arrived shortly after Pleasant
Hill Fire Co. led by Chief Ted Clousher and saw a person standing on the
edge of the driveway, according to court documents. Heffner said he
recognized the Barnharts from their "history of disorderly and harassing
behavior related to this driveway," and overheard Clousher ordering them
to move out of the fire engine's way.
-----------------------
Emergency preparedness consultant Ben Johnson told the
Savannah City Council that so far he's identified more than 600
hazardous chemicals being transported through the city.
And
there's no major route in or out of the city where hazardous materials
can't be found: I-16, I-516, I-95, Ga. 21, Bay Street, Martin Luther
King Jr. Boulevard, DeRenne Avenue, U.S. 80, U.S. 17.
But he
hasn't completed a flow study that will give a more detailed picture of
which materials are being transported on which roads. Savannah State
University students will help him complete that study by actually
tallying the identifying triangular hazmat placards they observe on
trucks going by designated study spots.
Council
requested the study in October after discussions of proposed LNG
trucking revealed a lack of detailed data about the types and quantities
of all hazardous materials flowing through the city.
-----------------------
United
States (North Carolina) - Five workers at Charlotte Pipe and
Foundry were taken to the hospital to be evaluated this morning after a
chemical fire broke out at the plant on South Clarkson Street near
uptown. At least 60 firefighters helped control the fire in about 90
minutes, Charlotte fire Capt. Rob Brisley said. No firefighters were
injured, he said.
Fire
officials said they took air quality samples and found no danger to
residents from any fumes released by the fire.
The fire
started at about 3:15 a.m. Fire officials haven't yet said what chemical
may have been involved or what caused the fire.
-----------------------
GEORGETOWN, SC (WMBF) - The Georgetown County Fire
Department believes two people might have come in contact with hazardous
materials at Georgetown's International Paper plant
Friday.
Chief Mack Reed with the Georgetown County Fire
Department said they received a call from IP about a non-responsive
patient around 10:30 a.m.
It is possible two people may have come in contact
with a chemical, possibly hydrogen sulfide.
They were
both taken to Georgetown Memorial Hospital where they were
decontaminated as a precaution.
-----------------------
PLAQUEMINE, LA (WAFB) - Authorities report a crash involving
a box trailer and a dump truck has closed a section of LA 1 near Dow
Chemical Plant.
According to the Louisiana State Police, one caught
fire when the two vehicles collided, but the flames have since been put
out.
"(It was) very emotional. I'm just devastated. I'm
glad the driver's not dead. We can fix this but I'm glad no one was
killed," said Wilbert Forrest Jr., owner of the dump
truck.
The southbound lanes of LA 1 have been reopened, but
the northbound lane is expected to be closed until 7
p.m.
Investigators have not indicated when the roadway will
be completely reopened.
The box trailer, which was carrying plastic pellets,
burst into flames when the wreck happened.
The dump
truck was hauling hot asphalt. Troopers said no one was killed or even
seriously injured.
-----------------------
Workers at a nearby tow truck lot thought they saw oil
leaking from BRT Extrusions on Main Street in Niles.
But the
black, dirt-like substance was actually industrial waste, dumped there
from the plant.
"Basically what it is, is the grit from a parking lot
and some of the remnants of what was left in the mill. They wanted to
unclog their drains, and that's basically what they were doing," said
Trumbull County HAZMAT Chief Don Waldron.
"It's a
dirty black water with gravel and sludge from the storm sewer line,"
said Niles fire Lt. Rodney Freel.
BRT Extrusions hired an
outside company to clean their drains, and that subcontractor said they
didn't know they had to contain the waste. Waldron said it's technically
considered open dumping, but the workers were only given a warning, and
the material isn't in danger of spreading or causing any
harm.
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=BB
PIPELINE EXPLOSION IN LAGOS - VANGUARD (NIGERIA), h
ttp://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/12/pipeline-explosion-in-lagos/<
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What
would have been a major disaster, few days to Christmas was
averted by the combined efforts of fire service men,members
of the National Security and Civil Defence Corps, NDSC, the police and
staff of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, when an
explosion occured along the NNPC pipelines around Isheri Olofin in
the Egbe-Idimu Local Council Development Area.
The explosion, on Thursday, though didn=92t affect the
pipelines of NNPC, occured about 150 meters away in a swampy area
and was caused by bush burning by neighbouring farmers.
According to eye witnesses, pipelines vandals had channeled their pipes
from the NNPC pipeline into the swampy area and so the bush
burning only aided the explosion.
Calistus
Ukachukwu, an official of Red Cross, corroborated the claim, saying that
the explosion was caused by bush burning but added that if the vandals
hadn=92t chenneled the pipe from the NNPC pipelines, the explosion would
not have occured.
-----------------------
MEXICO CITY, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- The death toll of an
oil pipeline explosion in central Mexico rose to 27 with 52 injuries,
state-run energy giant Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) said in a statement
on Sunday.
Earlier on Sunday, an official from the Puebla state
government told Xinhua by telephone that the explosion took place after
criminals tapping two oil pipelines running through Puebla town San
Martin Texmelucan lost control of oil flow.
The
Puebla official said that 33 homes were completely destroyed by the
explosion and 32 more were seriously damaged. Pemex said that a total of
115 houses had been affected. Regional authorities are now moving 5,000
residents of the town to the Angeles Blancos emergency shelter and
cleanup work is under way. Pemex said that the incident began at 5.50
a.m. local time. The fire had been put out by 10 a.m. local time. Pemex
investigators are at the scene seeking the cause of the explosion. The
area is now being guarded by 125 soldiers, it added.
-----------------------
A
deliberately lit fire caused an evacuation at the Shepparton Market
Place yesterday.
Customers
and staff of the shopping complex were asked to leave after a fire was
reported in Big W about 2.30 pm.
Police
said two men entered the store and grabbed a bottle of chlorine from the
pool section before walking to the car care section and grabbing a
bottle of brake fluid.
One of
the males poured the brake fluid into the chlorine container, which
caused a chemical reaction and set fire to the container. Smoke filled
the area and a fellow shopper quickly extinguished the
fire....
-----------------------
Seattle
Fire has finished with a hazmat incident at the University of
Washington's Henderson Hall, the Applied Physics Lab.
Sue Stangl with the Seattle Fire Department said the
building was evacuated.
The
problem substance is flourine gas. The gas, which is toxic, was stopped
from spreading.
Seattle Fire said 3 to 4
cubic centimeters of the gas was released on the first floor lab. A lab
technician said he heard a hiss, turned off the valve and left to call
9-1-1.
Lt. Stangl said the hazmat
team members suited up in what is called "level A" protection and
entered the lab where the gas leaked to make sure the nozzle is
closed.
When haz mat crews made it
into the lab, they confirmed the nozzle was closed. The amount of
flourine was very minimal, according to Stangl.
The incident began at about 4:30 p.m.
Friday.
-----------------------
By Anneka Masih: Firefighters tackled a toxic chemical
spill in Burton-upon-Trent caused by a faulty machine.
The leak
happened at Rumenco animal feed factory in Derby Road,
Stretton.
The alarm was raised this morning (December 14) when
machinery began smoking and toxic liquids spilled out.
Firefighters wore gas tight chemical suits and poured sand
over the spill to absorb the chemical.
-----------------------
A plane manufacturing
company in Little Rock is letting employees back into the building after
a chemical spill.
Hawker Beechcraft is letting employees back into the
building after a 55-gallon drum ruptures, spilling some chemicals and
releasing chemicals into the air.
It happened around 1:30 p.m.
Wednesday. The Little Rock Fire Department says a woman was in a room of
the building where cabinets are installed into aircrafts when she heard
a popping and crackling sound coming from a fire-proof cabinet. As she
was trying to leave the room, one of the 55-gallon drums ruptured. She
was taken by MEMS to a local hospital after feeling nausea and a burning
sensation in her nose.
The cabinet was warped and chemicals spilled onto the
floor with chemical vapors being released into the air. HAZ-MAT was
called to the scene and they turned on vents in the room to help
evacuate the vapor.
The room is now taped off and HAZ-MAT will continue
testing until the room is safe to let employees back
in.
-----------------------
A drum of furfuryl alcohol ruptured at Dow Chemical
yesterday afternoon, prompting the evacuation of the main facility for
about an hour, a company representative said.
The
rupture was contained by Dow Chemical's emergency response team, said
Kevin DeLine, site manufacturing leader.
The
business moved employees from the main facility to a different building
on the property until the area was secured and the air was deemed OK,
DeLine said.
No one was exposed to any chemical, and there was no
chemical release outside the area of the rupture, DeLine said. The
business, at 455 Forest St., was cleaning up as of last
night.
Dow Chemical is investigating the rupture and has not
determined a cause.
Furfuryl alcohol is a raw material, one of the
products that the company makes.
-----------------------
CARROLL COUNTY -- Unless
there's another find, Carroll County is going to end the year with a
count of eight methamphetamine labs processed by city and county law
enforcement.
According to Carroll County
Sheriff Bob Grudek, two of the labs were in Berryville, four were in
county jurisdiction, and two were in Green Forest. The busts have
resulted in ten arrests, but that's just one aspect of cleaning up
meth.
The latest lab was discovered December 10 in Green
Forest when a caller reported a suspicious duffel bag in the crawl space
of a house being cleaned for rental. After the Green Forest Police
Department (GFPD) responded, Chief John Bailey saw the duffel was open
and determined it contained hazardous materials common to meth
labs.
...
Aside from the obvious human toll of lives that are
ruined, and in some cases are lost, meth costs every taxpayer in the
county each time a lab is processed and cleaned. Once a lab is
discovered; whether it's a house, hotel room or an open field, local law
enforcement must notify the Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA).
...
Bailey told the Citizen, "Even a small, 'one pot' lab
can cost upwards of $10,000. Get four of those and that's at least
$40,000 that comes out of a city's budget. We don't have that kind of
money to spend in Green Forest, so we're lucky we have a certified
hazard processing team in Carroll County."
Once the
DEA arrives, they call a Hazmat transport company to move the hazardous
materials to a location where they are eventually destroyed under
government protocol. Although the DEA picks up the tab for transport,
the bottom line is still taxpayer money.
-----------------------
DENHAM SPRINGS, La (NBC33) Two crashes in less than
three hours at the same spot on I-12 near the Amite River
Bridge.
Authorities say the first truck, a fuel tanker,
hit the railing and ran off the road. It was carrying thousands of
gallons of gas.
Haz-mat crews cleared the scene and the rail was
repaired just in time for another 18-wheeler to come barreling
through.
The second big rig was also carrying some
hazardous paint and gases when it ran off I-12 and crashed into a
ditch.
The Denham Springs Police Department and State Police
Hazmat crews were back on scene again to deal with the
mess.
DOTD had to close the right line of I-12
eastbound to repair the guard rail again.
Authorities tell us this is the seventh overturned truck in
this area in just six weeks.
-----------------------
WAREHAM - Wareham firefighters responded to the 4th
District Court in Wareham Wednesday, December 15, 2010, for a reported
sulfuric acid spill around 10:30 a.m.
According
to emergency broadcast reports, approximately one half quart of sulfuric
acid was spilled in the basement of the courthouse
complex.
The courthouse was evacuated and will be closed for
the remainder of the day according to the Wareham District County
Clerk's Office. There were no reported injuries.
Hazardous
material crews also responded to the scene.
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