CHESTERFIELD - State Police have arrested a Florida man and
charged him with manufacturing drugs after a traffic stop for expired
license plates and a search of his Chesterfield hotel room led to the
discovery of a methamphetamine lab.
Shortly before 9 a.m.
Wednesday, Trooper S.D. Holland was flagged down in the 2400 block of
West Hundred Road in Chesterfield County. The citizen told the trooper
of suspicious activity in the area and provided information on the
suspect to the officer.
The trooper then saw the suspect getting into a
vehicle and initiated a traffic stop based on expired license
plates.
According to State Police Sgt. Thomas Molnar, based on
information received from the suspect and after an affidavit for a
search warrant was obtained, a search of the suspect's room was
conducted.
Additionally, six other rooms were evacuated as a
precautionary measure.
Inside the hotel room, authorities found an active
meth lab. Molnar said that the suspect, Joshua A. Rhodes, 31, of
Valrico, Fla., had been in the room for several days.
"Chemicals used in making meth are highly poisonous and could
pose a hazard to first responders, and law enforcement officers who are
investigating the incident as well as to the environment, if exposed to
them," Molnar said of the chemicals used in the manufacture of the
drug.
-----------------------
A pet Chihuahua in Britain
is said to have caused a freak house fire when it decided to chew on a
mobile phone belong to its owner.
Lily the Chihuahua
apparently chewed through a Samsung handset and dislodged the battery
while gnawing on it. The dog's saliva is believed to have caused a
chemical reaction with the lithium in the phone's battery, and the heat
from the reaction then ignited the carpet.
The
incident had taken place as nine-year-old Aysha, who owns the phone, was
sleeping.
When the smoke alarm went off, her mum Lynn Sayed, 45,
who was watching TV downstairs with her friend Stephanie Demarco, rushed
upstairs and grabbed her daughter before fleeing from the
house.
A search of the house in South Shields, Tyneside,
revealed the badly dented battery had scorched into the
carpet.
-----------------------
RESIDENTS in Maldon were told not to leave their homes
on Tuesday after a factory erupted in fire and phosphorus
explosions.
Fire crews were called to the foil and embossing die
unit in Sil-Die, Fullbridge, at 12.42pm.
A chemical officer was ordered to the scene as the
basement of the two-storey building contained highly flammable chemicals
magnesium developer and acetone fixer.
Speaking from the scene, assistant divisional officer,
Nigel Dilley, said the first tank exploding created a chain reaction in
the second.
He said: =93There was a huge bang and the explosion
created a bright white flash with pieces of phosphorus flying
everywhere.=94
Roads surrounding the area were closed and residents
were told not to leave their homes.
Maldon Council also set up two rest centres for those
who could not return home.
-----------------------
Last week, campus laboratory facilities were not
only abuzz with the customary stirrings of students at work, but
literally ablaze as well. At 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 2, a fire
broke out on the fourth floor of Hutchinson Hall, the product of an
experimental blunder.
An
undergraduate in the midst of an independent study research project was
directly involved. His name has not been released.
According to UR Chemistry Department Chairman Robert
K. Boeckman, the student had been working with a process called column
chromatography, whereby organic chemists separate pure compounds, when
the solvent that he was using ignited. The most valid speculation
regarding causal factors is that one of the metal catalysts within the
chemical reaction taking place had dried out and caused a spark, thus
igniting the solvent.
=93We
will never know for sure,=94 Boeckman said.
The fire was entirely unexpected, as relevant
experimental proceedings had been underway for months without
incident.
=93In my experience of
running column chromatography in over 25 years in this building, this
has never happened,=94 Boeckman said.
-----------------------
A man was injured Tuesday night when he set himself on
fire while cooking methamphetamine inside an area hotel room, according
to authorities.
Clarksville Fire Rescue and Emergency Medical Services
responded to a fire alarm at the Value Place Inn, at 675 Kennedy Lane,
at 8:46 p.m. Tuesday. By the time emergency crews arrived, the sprinkler
system had extinguished the fire, Fire Marshall Ray Williams said.
Williams said a man who was staying in room 328 was outside trying to
use snow to cool himself off when crews arrived.
A search
of his room uncovered a burned bathtub, a one-gallon can of camp fuel
and the burned remains of a plastic Coke bottle. There was also a strong
odor of camp fuel coming from the room, Williams said.
"The
temperature in that room had to reach at least 155 degrees for the
sprinkler system to come on," Williams said. "We suspected that it was
things used to cook meth."
The man had second- and third-degree burns on his
face, neck, chest and both arms, Williams said. The man was sedated and
transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center's burn unit. He man
has not been identified, and his condition is unknown at this
time.
-----------------------
Explosions rocked the city of Mont Belvieu around noon
central time on Tuesday. The explosions were due to malfunctions at a
chemical plant owned by Enterprise Products. The blast could be felt
miles away from the chemical plant, and resulted in huge flames
that could be seen from the downtown Houston area. The explosion
destroyed most of the Mont Belvieu processing plant, and several
vehicles parked nearby.
The facility that caught fire was used primarily for
separating natural gas into its liquid components. Enterprise has a
decent safety record, with their last major accident occurring six years
ago when an employee was killed in another Texas facility in Mirando
City. None of the employees accounted for at the Texas chemical plant
reported having any injuries. A spokesperson for Enterprise Products
reported later in the evening that they still had a missing
employee.
Firefighters arrived promptly on the scene and
attended to the flames. The flames, fueled by a butane-carrying pipeline
that was ripped open by the explosions, was left to burn out on its own.
A state of emergency was not declared by Chambers County officials, and,
besides the closure of state highway 146, many things went on as usual
around the city.
-----------------------
WATERLOO, Iowa --- Two
Waterloo boys were booked Tuesday on arson charges in connection with
the chemical bomb that exploded at the Waterloo Public Library last
month.
Waterloo Police took into
custody Marqwane Shakeen Smith, 16, of 702 Allen St., and Nekema
Ziquavise Carter, 13, of 420 Center St., on charges of first-degree
arson. Smith is charged as an adult and Carter as a juvenile. The charge
is a Class B felony, with Smith facing up to 25 years in prison if
convicted as charged.
The two
reportedly confessed to making the chemical bomb, as well as
transporting it and planting the device at the Waterloo Public Library
Jan. 22.
That day, at about 4:45
p.m., an explosive went off on the first floor of the library in the
book shelves to the left of the check-in/out desk.
Police said the device consisted of normal household
items that were enclosed in a pop bottle. The ingredients reacted
chemically and the pressure buildup causes the bottle to
burst.
No one was injured, but the
library was evacuated, and the explosion damaged the library
floor.
-----------------------
CHESTERFIELD COUNTY =97 Chesterfield Fire and EMS
Hazmat team and Virginia State Police are investigating a meth lab
inside the Day's Inn in the 2400 block of West Hundred Road near
Interstate 95 in Chester.
Virginia State Police arrested 31-year-old Joshua A.
Rhodes, of Valrico, FL and charged him with one count
of manufacturing a Controlled Substance (Methamphetamines) which is
a Felony.
CBS 6 Reporter Jon Burkett spoke to a motel worker who
says he discovered what looked like a meth lab in a motel room Wednesday
morning.
-----------------------
DOWNTOWN
=97 Fire department and HazMat crews closed off a lane of Park Row
across from City Hall Wednesday after a small fuel spill, officials
said.
Crews spread sand and gravel on the sidewalk and the
street in front of 3 Park Row at Beekman Street around 2:15 p.m.
Wednesday after about 20 - 30 gallons of fuel oil spilled onto the
sidewalk and into the gutter, fire officials and witnesses
said.
A witness at the scene said a home heating oil company
was delivering oil to the building when the ground delivery pipe
apparently backed up and sent the incoming oil streaming onto the
sidewalk.
-----------------------
The odors coming from a sanitation truck in East
Atlanta were so powerful, workers could no longer operate the
truck.
Enlarge photo
Courtesy of Brian Lynch
Atlanta fire department crews get ready to inspect chemicals believed to
be used for the production of meth found in the garbage outside a home
on Ormewood Avenue in East Atlanta.
Enlarge
photo
Courtesy of Brian Lynch Atlanta fire department crews
get ready to inspect chemicals believed to be used for the production of
meth found in the garbage outside a home on Ormewood Avenue in East
Atlanta.
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"They started compacting
garbage and the containers broke, releasing an obnoxious odor," Atlanta
fire Capt. Jolyon Bundridge told the AJC.
That odor
turned out to be butyl alcohol, Bundridge said. A Hazmat team arrived to
put the chemical containers in odor packs. Butyl alcohol can be used as
a solvent or as a paint thinner.
Investigators have not yet
determined which residents on the 1300 block of Ormewood Avenue tried to
improperly dispose of the chemicals, Bundridge said.
-----------------------
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Crews
that were putting in a fence hit a gas line Wednesday, Orange County
Fire Rescue told WFTV. Buildings on both sides of the 1100-block of
Satellite Boulevard and Central Florida Parkway (see map) were evacuated
around 1:30pm.
Hazmat crews responded to
the scene and capped the leak around 2:40pm. Once the leak was capped,
air monitoring meters were used to ensure the area was safe. Once the
scene was mitigated, fire crews turned the scene over to TECO gas
company and evacuations were lifted.
-----------------------
Hazmat
crews in Virginia are trying to figure out what=92s causing a suspicious
odor near a group of homes in Stafford.
The odor was reported yesterday near seven homes on
Short Branch Lane near Woodstream Boulevard. Five families that live in
that section of homes were evacuated and spent last night in a
hotel.
Hazmat crews, along with
officials from the Environmental Protection Agency, are at scene trying
to determine the source of the smell. Crews have found high levels of
methane in the soil near the homes, but that doesn=92t necessarily
explain the strong smell.
Electricity has been shut off to the homes in the area as a
precaution and the Red Cross is assisting those residents who were
evacuated.
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