Iowa
Fire damage to cost more than $30,000 at Iowa chemical
plant
By Associated
Press
8:07 AM CST, December 4,
2009
FORT MADISON, Iowa (AP) =97
A fire in the basement of a Fort Madison chemical plant caused thousands
of dollars in damage and the building was evacuated.
No one
was injured in the fire at the DuPont plant on Thursday
morning.
Investigators say the factory suffered about $30,000
to $40,000 in damage.
Employees first reported the fire in the basement and
shipping area of the plant, which makes colorants and pigmented inks for
digital printing systems.
Fort Madison Fire Chief Joey Herren says employees
cutting metal for maintenance likely set fire to the wooden floor
framing accidentally.
===
United
Kingdom
Chemical spill shuts X-ray ward
An X-ray
department at a Cambridgeshire hospital has been evacuated after
chemicals mixed to create harmful gas.
Fire
crews were called to North Cambridgeshire Hospital in Wisbech where a
small amount of hydrochloric acid had been spilt.
The acid
mixed with another substance creating chlorine gas on Thursday
afternoon.
The department was evacuated, and two hospital staff
needed medical treatment after breathing in the gas.
Extractor
fans were used to remove the gas, and the department has since
re-opened.
===
Pakistan
Three killed in Pak accidental blast:
officials
(AFP) - 11 hours
ago
PESHAWAR, Pakistan =97 At least three people were
killed and 13 others wounded in an accidental blast at a building in
Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar on Saturday, officials
said.
"It was a low intensity explosion caused by a chemical
reaction," local bomb disposal chief Shafqat Malik told
AFP.
He added that the blast occurred in a chemical shop in
the market.
City police chief Liaqat Ali Khan also confirmed the
blast was accidental and caused by a chemical reaction, promising "stern
action against those dealing with dangerous chemicals in densely
populated areas of Peshawar."
Top local administration official Sahebzada Mohammad
Anees said: "Three people were killed and 13 others wounded in the
explosion."
A senior doctor at the government's main Lady Reading
Hospital, Zafar Iqbal, said two bodies and 13 injured had been brought
to the hospital."
A doctor
at Peshawar's Khyber Teaching Hospital, Mohammad Imran, said one dead
body was taken to his hospital.
===
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee fire department
finds ammonia burning at Hydrite Chemical Co.
Milwaukee fire department and its hazardous materials
team respond to a call on the city's northwest side Friday
morning.
An employee at Hydrite Chemical Company, located in
the 7300 block of W. Bradley Rd., was moving 55 pounds of
ammonium-sulfate and accidentally dropped the substance on the floor.
When the worker tried to sweep it up, it ignited into a small fire. The
fire was put out by the company's overhead sprinkler
system.
===
Washington State follow up
Cleanup
plans under way at biodiesel plant
BY JACOB
JONES
The Daily
World
Friday, December 4, 2009
11:11 AM PST
Imperium
Grays Harbor officials continue to assess the damage from Wednesday=92s
explosion as clean-up crews sift through powdered glycerin and debris
scattered by the blast.
Workers in bright green coats hustled in and out of
the Hoquiam plant this morning as a large tanker truck sat parked near
the damaged tanks. A large piece of metal tank that crashed into a
chain-link security fence had been removed and the fence temporarily
rebuilt.
Spokeswoman Kim Schmanke, with the Department of
Ecology, said environmental officials monitored the site as private
contractors worked Thursday to clear a layer of glycerin from the
biodiesel plant grounds.
=93Most of it was in powder form,=94 she said, adding,
=93It looks like soot.=94
The harmless material coated much of the refinery when
a 10,000-gallon tank containing a mix of glycerin and sulfuric acid
over-pressurized at about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday and exploded, rattling
windows creating a boom heard miles away.
The blast
completely destroyed the mixing tank and ruptured a nearby 3,000-gallon
tank of sulfuric acid, which leaked about 500 gallons of the corrosive
chemical into safety basins around the tank.
Officials
say none of the acid leaked out of the containment basins and the spill
does not pose any threat to nearby air or water. Environmental officials
said air quality tests detected no traces of sulfuric acid at
neighboring homes or businesses.
Imperium spokesman John
Williams wrote in a news release the company was working closely with
safety and environmental officials. He said environmental officials have
turned over safety supervision and air quality monitoring to the private
clean-up contractors.
=93(T)he incident site is fully stable and clean up
crews remain active,=94 he wrote. =93Imperium officials are monitoring
the clean up, continuing to investigate the cause of the accident, and
assessing the damage.=94
Spokeswoman Elaine Fischer, with the state Department
of Labor & Industries, confirmed safety inspectors had responded to
the plant Thursday to launch a workplace safety
investigation.
=93It=92ll be an ongoing inspection for some months,=94
she said, noting few details would be available until the investigation
is complete.
Williams reported police and fire crews were no longer
at the plant as private crews took the lead on Thursday. He wrote
Imperium continues to take stock of the damage and could not offer any
timeline for repairing the damage and restarting biodiesel
production.
=93The company is still assessing the situation,=94 he
wrote.
Schmanke said about two or three days of site cleaning
and hazardous chemical work remain. Crews must finish removing the
glycerin, some of which is solid or semi-solid, before they can clear
the acid.
Crews will chemically neutralize the acid and then
pump it into disposal trucks, she said, =93essentially vacuuming it
up.=94
Schmanke said the ecology department will not be at
the plant today, but will stay on call in case of any
developments.
=93We remain responsive and ready to be there,=94 she
said.
Williams wrote that Imperium hopes to release more
information as it becomes available from inspectors and cleanup
workers.
=93The company is grateful for the support of local
first responders,=94 he wrote, =93and the Grays Harbor community as the
cleanup continues.=94
===
S.
Lorea
