The response to the high school mercury
incident described below is interesting because it occurred only a few
miles away from the recent one that sent 40 students to the
hospital...
-
Ralph
Links to
details available at
canada: Hazmat
team called to plant cleanup
Windsor
Fire and Rescue's hazmat team was called to a former car bumper plant at
9100 Tecumseh Rd. E. Thursday afternoon after containers of unknown
chemicals were discovered during a cleanup of the
facility.
The city is in the process of demolishing the building
and had hired a cleaning crew to remove equipment and materials left
behind. But when the cleaners came across chemicals they could not
identify, they called the fire department to deal with the potential
hazard.
Firefighters suited up in hazmat gear and set up a
decontamination area in the back of the building. Paramedics were on
standby as well and the Windsor police explosives disposal unit was
dispatched to the scene as a precaution.
Chief
fire prevention officer Lee Tome said no chemicals were spilled, but
emergency crews were taking all precautions. He expected the hazmat team
to remain on the scene for several hours.
ua_tx: Hazmat crews respond to chlorine gas
leak
A chlorine gas leak shut
down a northeast Austin neighborhood for six hours
Thursday.
"About 100 pounds leaked
from a 150 pound tank," said Austin firefighter Elizabeth
Donelson.
The Austin Fire Department
Hazardous material team was called to an Austin water treatment plant in
the Harris Branch area around 10 a.m. Thursday. Employees noticed a tank
was leaking a small amount of chlorine.
"The chlorine is used to treat waste water," said Jill
Mayfield, spokesperson for the Austin Water Utility
Department.
Special operation crews were
quick to stop the leak. As a precaution, the fire department evacuated
more than a dozen homes near the water treatment plant. They were afraid
when they tried to move the tank it would start leaking
again.
us_ma: Hazmat release probed at Allston
train yards
A hazardous materials
cleanup is planned today at the Allston railroad yard near Storrow Drive
and the Doubletree Hotel, the Boston Fire Department
said.
Firefighters responded at 10:38 a.m. to the Beacon
Yards site for a report of an oil spill, department spokesman Steve
MacDonald said.
Recent rains apparently fell into an uncovered
dumpster, forcing out at least 100 gallons of an unidentified petroleum
product, he said in an official tweet.
He said
those on the scene included Boston Police, Boston Fire hazardous
materials technicians and Boston EMS workers, as well as city health
inspectors and water and sewer workers, and state environmental
protection officials.
us_ny: Mercury accident rings bells at Webutuck
In the aftermath of an mercury thermometer breaking in
the Webutuck High School science lab room, Webutuck is using the
incident to evaluate district protocol and training.
The
thermometer broke during class time on Friday, April 30, while being
used by a teacher during a demonstration. The students in class removed
their shoes, so as not to track any mercury outside of the classroom,
and were tested for traces of any vaporized mercury before being
released. No one was injured, and students and parents were kept in
communication with the school about the situation.
...
Using
mercury in a science curriculum, even when found in thermometers, is no
longer allowed in New York state. Webutuck had several mercury body
thermometers in the science classroom that have since been
discarded.
...this past summer Dutchess County BOCES, which is
the school=92s official risk management agency, conducted a cleanup of
chemicals in the science labs. The mercury thermometers were
overlooked
