Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2010 07:25:16 -0400
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From: Ralph Stuart <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: Chemical Safety headlines from Google

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HOMEMADE 'BUG BOMB' PROMPTS HAZMAT SCARE - BOSTON NEWS STORY - WCVB BOSTON, http:// www.thebostonchannel.com/news/25228105/detail.html

BOSTON -- Two police officers and a maintenance worker were taken to the hospital Thursday after a homemade "bug bomb" was set off inside a Plainville apartment.
Police were called to the Village Green apartment complex on Messenger Street in Plainville at about 1 p.m. Thursday on a report of smoke coming from an apartment, Wicked Local Plainville reported.
The three men were taken to the hospital as a precaution after inhaling smoke from what authorities have learned was a homemade "bug bomb," the paper reported.
The resident, who was not at home, said she got the device from someone who got it from someone else, the paper reported.
Since it was not immediately clear what chemicals the device contained, a hazmat crew was called to the scene.

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HAZMAT CALLED TO COVINGTON FIRE - FOX19.COM AND FOX19 NEWS, WEATHER, TRAFFIC, AND SPORTS FOR CINCINNATI AND NORTHERN KENTUCKY |, http://www.fox 19.com/Global/story.asp?S=13246245

COVINGTON, KY (FOX19) - HazMat crews were called to a fire at a chemical plant Thursday afternoon.

Flames broke out around 1 p.m. at Iofina Chemical Inc. on Mary Laidley Drive.

Dispatchers say it was a small fire that was knocked down quickly, but HazMat crews were called as a precaution.

No injures were reported. The Iofina Chemical plant, and employees of a nearby animal shelter were evacuated as a precaution.

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FD: TEEN SERIOUSLY INJURED IN 3-CAR ACCIDENT IN GILBERT, http://www.abc15.com/ dpp/news/region_southeast_valley/gilbert/fd:-teen-seriously-injured-in-3-c ar-accident-in-gilbert

GILBERT, AZ - Crews worked for several hours Thursday night to clear the scene after a three-vehicle accident in Gilbert sent a teen to the hospital.

Gilbert Fire Department spokesman Mike Connor said crews were called to the wreck near Germann Road and Val Vista Drive around 6:30 p.m.

Connor said four of five patients evaluated at the scene were released. A 17-year-old boy reportedly suffered head injuries and a loss of consciousness and was airlifted to Scottsdale Healthcare-Osborn. His current condition is unknown.

A HAZMAT team was dispatched to the scene after a pickup truck involved in the accident rolled over, spilling pool chemicals onto the roadway.

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NO INJURIES OCCUR AFTER STUDENT KNOCKS OVER PRESERVATION FLUID | INSIDENOVA, http://www2.insidenova.com/news/2010/se p/30/3/three-injured-chemical-spill-middle-school-ar-533883/

A small spill in the science laboratory at Saunders Middle School in Manassas on Thursday morning forced the evacuation of two classes and sent three staff members to Potomac Hospital as a precaution, according to Prince William County School officials.

At around 9 a.m., students were preparing experiments when a student bumped into a jar containing =93a chemical to preserve [animal] specimens,=94 said Middle School Associate Superintendent Pat Puttre. 

As a precaution, those students as well as those in an adjacent room were sent to another classroom while members of the Prince William Fire &amp; Rescue Hazmat team addressed the situation.

As of 11 a.m., the initial cleanup was done. School officials have an outside environmental cleaning agency on the way for a further investigation and cleanup.

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HAZMAT TEAMS CALLED TO CHEMICAL PLANT FIRE - CINCINNATI NEWS STORY - WLWT CINCINNATI, http://www.wlwt.com /news/25226178/detail.html

COVINGTON, Ky. -- Hazardous materials crews were called Thursday afternoon to a fire at a Covington chemical plant.
The initial call came just after noon from Iofina Chemical on Mary Laidley Drive, where investigators said a small amount of trichloromelamine ignited.
The chemical comes in tablet or pill form and is ground up to use as a sanitizer.
Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze, but officials were concerned that chlorine gas or hydrogen chloride would be released into the air.
The plant sits atop a hill, and officials worried that the gas would be dispersed by the wind and cause air quality problems for nearby businesses.
However, no harmful gas was released by the fire, investigators said.

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COUNCIL STAFF TURNING ON A CENTRAL HEATING SYSTEM AT AN OFFICE IN NAILSEA FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE LAST WINTER SPARKED A MAJOR EMERGENCY OPERATION., http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/crime /Heating-causes-chemical-smell/article-2705787-detail/article.html

COUNCIL staff turning on a central heating system at an office in Nailsea for the first time since last winter sparked a major emergency operation.

Fire, police and paramedics rushed to Somerset Square at just after 3.30pm yesterday after staff working in a council building at the rear of the town's library reported a strange, chemical smell in a third-floor office.

Five people were in the office at the time, all of whom were evacuated on the advice of emergency crews.

A handful of people in the nearby library were also evacuated and a 100ft cordon was put around the building while fire crews went inside.

Fire crews from Nailsea, Avonmouth and Clevedon plus the Avon Fire and Rescue environmental response unit from Brislington - a total of around 20 firefighters - attended the scene.

The office is used by the council's sports development and active lifestyles team.

Five members of staff - three men and two women - were in the office when they noticed the strange smell.

Avon Fire and Rescue said they believed the smell had come from the central heating system - which had been turned on yesterday by staff for the first time since last winter.

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TOXIC CHEMICAL SPILL AT U PROMPTS EVACUATION | STARTRIBUNE.COM, http://www.startribune.com/loc al/104043978.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUg7Kk8P3iUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aU7DYaGEP7vDEh7P: DiUs

The University of Minnesota evacuated a building Wednesday evening after a chemical spill sent two students to the hospital for observation.

University officials hoped to reopen the Phillips Wangensteen Building on Thursday once a hazardous material response team had cleaned up the spill.

Two students working with the chemical pyridine in a seventh-floor lab reported the spill about 6 p.m. Wednesday, Minneapolis Fire Battalion Chief Mike Carswell said. The students apparently were moving the toxic, highly flammable chemical when 2 to 4 liters spilled in the doorway, spreading into the lab and the hall.

If the liquid had spilled only in the lab, the fumes would have been vented outside, said Neil Carlson, university health and safety industrial hygienist. But because the spill entered the hall, emergency crews were concerned it could be carried to the rest of the building, prompting them to immediately evacuate the building's sixth, seventh and eighth floors. The rest of the building, which contains classrooms and labs, was evacuated as hazardous material crews came to clean up the spill.

The students, who suffered no apparent injuries, immediately covered the spill with dry material to contain it and the vapors, Carswell said. As a precaution, the students were taken to a decontamination van, where they showered. They were later hospitalized for observation.

Pyridine can irritate skin and the vapors can cause nausea and headaches, Carlson said.

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POST NOW - ACID SPILL AT D.C. SEWAGE TREATMENT STATION, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking -news/dc/acid-spill-at-dc-sewage-treatm.html

D.C. Fire and EMS is reporting that one person was exposed to spilled acid at the D.C. Water Sewage Treatment Station in Southeast.

A male worker was being evaluated at the station at 125 O Street for possible chemical burns.

The acid spill is said to be contained to the loading dock area.

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EMERGENCY HAZMAT INCIDENT IN ROSEVILLE - ROSEVILLE CALIFORNIA NEWS INCLUDING ROCKLIN &AMP; PLACER COUNTY, http://www.rocklintoday.com/news/template s/community_news.asp?articleid=9307&amp;zoneid=4
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Emergency crews responded to a hazardous material incident at the Western Placer Waste Management Authority Regional Sanitary Landfill and Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in Roseville this afternoon.

The incident began about 12:30 when two employees of the facility came into contact with an unknown substance while working on a conveyor belt in the recycling area of the MRF. The employees experienced skin irritation and watering eyes and were transported by ambulance to the Sutter Regional Medical Facility in Roseville for precautionary reasons.

Nortech, the company that operates the facility for the Waste Management Authority, evacuated the building. Emergency crews responded and the building was opened up and ventilated, or dry decontaminated. Crews conducted air testing in the building and nothing unusual was detected. Additionally, testing of the building detected nothing unusual in the waste in the building.

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LAWSUIT LINKS STUDENT'S DEATH TO '08 BAYER EXPLOSION | WEST VIRGINIA RECORD, http://www.wvrecord.com/news/230046-lawsuit-links-st udents-death-to-08-bayer-explosion

CHARLESTON -- A multi-million dollar lawsuit alleges a third death can be attributed to a 2008 explosion at a Charleston-area chemical plant.

The Bayer Corporation and West Virginia State University are named as co-defendants in a wrongful death lawsuit filed Sept. 16 by Mt. Hope resident Portia Gray. In her Kanawha Circuit Court complaint, Gray alleges her son, Ra'Sean, died weeks after breathing the fallout left in his dormitory room from a 2008 explosion at Bayer's Institute plant.

The suit is the first to be filed against Bayer relating to the explosion that resulted in the deaths of two of its employees.

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CLEANUP CONTINUES, TWO MONTHS AFTER CHEMICAL FIRE - WGAU LOCAL NEWS ON 1340WGAU.COM, http://1340wgau.com/localnews/2010/09/cleanup-continues-two-month s-a.html

It's been two months since the explosion and fire at the J&amp;J Chemical factory off Olympic Drive. Clean-up efforts in nearby Trail Creek continue, with a company contracted by J&amp;J working to get the last of the chemical contaminants out of the creek on Athens' east side. Chemical runoff from the company that made toilet bowl disinfectants killed an estimated 15,000 fish.

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CRIME TRACKER: SYRACUSE COPS BATTLING BOTTLE BOMBS - ABC 4.COM - SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH NEWS, http://www.abc4.com/content/ news/top stories/story/CRIME-TRACKER-Syracuse-cops-battling-bottle-bombs/ijCdSovBGU e0yY-9m7dueg.cspx

SYRACUSE, Utah (ABC 4 News) - What appears to have started out as a teen aged prank has blown up into a full scale felony case of bomb-making in this Utah bedroom community.
With a few household items -- a plastic soda op bottle, a roll of aluminum foil and a popular household cleaner -- kids are building bombs that make the old cherry bombs look like firecrackers and can blow off an arm.
Teenagers call them "bottle bombs," "cleaner bombs," or "works bombs," after the brand of cleaner used to make them. Public safety officials call them chemical weapons.
"There've been reports of explosions that will actually break bones and take fingers off," says Syracuse Fire Captain Kyle Nance.
You can watch people - mostly teen aged boys - injure themselves, playing with these homemade explosives.
While most amateur pyro-technicians walk away without losing a limb, most of them seem completely unaware of the danger of the smoky residue after each blast, and walk or stand in it. They too are suffering injury from these explosions.

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