TRAIN DERAILMENT FORCES
EVACUATION | CANADA | NEWS | TORONTO SUN, http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2011/03/27/17773211.html
PORT
HOPE, Ont. - Sunday's train derailment east of Port Hope, Ont., could
have unleashed a "perfect storm" due to the hazardous materials being
transported, a firefighter said.
The 12:15 p.m. derailment
just east of Port Hope, 109 kilometres east of Toronto, sparked an
evacuation order that affected about two dozen homes in a rural
area.
Train cars involved in the derailment include one
containing propane, two with aviation fuel, one carrying residual
sulphuric acid and two with residual petroleum. As well, a natural gas
line was reportedly ruptured.
At least one tanker could be seen burning
approximately a half-kilometre away and sparked a grass
fire.
Flames were still coming from the area late
Sunday.
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Four children have been taken to hospital as a
precaution after fears they may have come into contact with waste
chemicals near a dental practice, police said.
Firefighters said they were called to reports of a
spillage of mercury capsules at the dentist's surgery in Market Place,
Whitburn, West Lothian, at around 5.20pm.
But Lothian and Borders Police said there had been no
spillage and it was thought youngsters may have been contaminated with
traces of chemical residue from waste products at the rear of the dental
surgery.
A spokeswoman for Lothian
and Borders Fire and Rescue Service said earlier this afternoon: "Four
children and one adult were taken to St John's Hospital. Two pumps and
other specialist vehicles were sent to the scene. They cleared up the
spillage."
The Scottish Ambulance
Service said they were called by the fire service and sent two
ambulances and four specialist vehicles to the scene.
"There was a report of a chemical spillage," a
spokesman added.
A
spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police said tonight: "Ambulance and
fire and rescue services were in attendance and the four children were
taken, purely as a precautionary measure, to St Johns Hospital in
Livingston. They were shortly thereafter reunited with their parents. No
medical treatment was required.
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TULSA - Tulsa police and Hazmat crews were called in
to assist firefighters Friday night after a meth lab was found during a
fire call.
TFD responded to the call in the 300 block of East
11th Street just before 11 p.m. Friday. Firefighters found smoke
in the area but no fire.
Upon further investigation, firefighters found a meth
lab inside the home and several people inside. The occupants were
evacuated and no injuries were reported.
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LORAIN =97 Several Mercy Regional Medical Center staff
members were evacuated yesterday after alarms sounded at the hospital at
10:55 a.m. indicating a hazardous material leak.
The alarm
indicted there was a high level of ethylene oxide leaking in the
sterilization area. However, hospital spokeswoman Kasha Frese said no
leak was found and no one was injured. She called the incident a false
alarm.
Lorain fire Capt. Dennis Livchak said the area
contains equipment used in the sterilization of surgical equipment.
Livchak said there is a bank of cylinders in that room containing the
ethylene oxide, which has a high risk of fire and exposure hazard, which
is why an alarm is used in the area.
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The
Burlington Fire Department set up a perimeter around Memorial Auditorium
on Friday morning, evacuated the building and called the Vermont
Hazardous Materials Response Team to the scene to deal with a possible
toxic hazard.
The incident began during a class in the auditorium=92s
print studio Thursday evening when a student, =93as part of the artistic
process,=94 Assistant Fire Marshall Barry Simays said, added zinc to a
container of nitric acid and created an =93orange-red-colored
cloud.=94
Those in
the print shop took the container outside, but no one called the fire
department until Friday morning, Simays said.
The
hazardous-materials specialists identified the substance in the
container, and the building was declared safe at about 2:30 p.m. Friday.
One unidentified individual was said to have experienced =93minor
respiratory=94 problems, but there were no other injuries.
Nine
firefighters and seven members of the hazardous materials team were at
the auditorium for about four hours Friday as part of the
cleanup.
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(Reuters)
- A worker died in a fiery explosion at a Massachusetts car dealership
after he apparently used a cigarette lighter to illuminate the inside of
a 55-gallon drum of flammable cleaning solvents, authorities said on
Friday.
Daniel Martinez, 33, was killed in the blast at Balise
Honda in West Springfield on Wednesday morning, said Deputy Fire Chief
Robert Manchino. Another worker suffered smoke
inhalation.
While speaking by cell phone with a chemical supplier,
Martinez ignited the lighter to check the level of auto cleaning solvent
inside the drum. The barrel exploded and was propelled about 30 feet
into the air before it struck the roof.
"We found
him quickly, but he was already deceased," Manchino
said.
Investigators used video from a surveillance camera to
determine what caused the explosion and fire. Martinez was a contract
worker at Balise employed by Real Clean Automotive
Detailing.
Firefighters fought the intense blaze for more than an
hour. The fire was continually fueled by multiple barrels of chemical
solvents at the site.
