Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2010 07:57:17 -0400
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From: Ralph Stuart <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: Chemical Safety headlines from Google

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HAZ MAT CREWS CALLED AFTER BODY FOUND - CHICAGOTRIBUNE.COM, http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-wi-hazmat-death,0,49164 39.story

RACINE, Wis. =E2=80=94 Racine police say the body of a woman was found in an apartment set up as a drug lab. 

Authorities identified the woman as 26-year-old Sarah Blask of Caledonia. Police haven't said what may have caused her death. Her body was taken to the Waukesha County Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy. 

The Racine Fire Department's hazardous materials team was called to the scene and could be seen carrying out materials that could have been used to make drugs. 

At least one apartment was temporarily evacuated because of the hazardous material. That family spent the night with relatives.

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HAZMAT CALLED TO INDUSTRIAL PARK FIRE - SANTEE, CA PATCH, http://santee.patch.com/articles/hazmat-called-due-to-industrial -park-fire

If you heard a cacophony of sirens in Santee on Wednesday afternoon, it was probably due to a fire that broke out in an industrial park off Stevens Road.

The fire started in, and was contained to, an industrial oven used by =EF=BB=BFAdvanced Electromagnetics Incorporated=EF=BB=BF (AEMI) at 9311 Stevens Rd. This company specializes in creating radio-frequency absorbers and anechoic chambers.=EF=BB=BF

According to =EF=BB=BFSantee Fire=EF=BB=BF Division Chief Brett Eldridge, something in the oven overheated, causing a plastic and foam type material to catch fire, thereby creating a tremendous amount of smoke, but little actual fire.=EF=BB=BF

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CHEMICAL FIRE - 570NEWS, h ttp://www.570news.com/news/local/article/124705--chemical-fire

Fire officials are investigating a chemical fire at an industrial waste recycling business in North Dumfries Township.

Crews responded to a blaze at Panda Environmental on Earl Thompson Place shortly after 11-am.

The fire was burning itself out before the North Dumfries Township fire department arrived on scene, and they extinguished the remaining fire. 

As a precaution, a neighbouring business was evacuated and St. Brigid school in Ayr was advised to keep kids indoors.

The Ministry of the Environment was also notified, although there's no evidence of a spill.

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TOXIC LEAK SENDS RESIDENTS INSIDE | POSTED TORONTO | NATIONAL POST, http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/11/03/toxic-leak-sends-residen ts-inside/

Residents of a Scarborough neighbourhood spent much of yesterday hiding from a cloud of sulphuric acid that escaped from a nearby factory.

Fire officials put the blame on an overloaded filter inside Chemtura Canada at 10 Chemical Court, in the Lawrence and Morningside area.

"We had police officers close down the area and firefighters going door to door, advising residents to stay inside until we gave the all clear,=" said Division Commander Lorne Buckingham.

Nearby residents were told to close their windows and to turn off their ventilation systems.

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THE HINDU : FRONT PAGE : FOUR INJURED IN FIRE, http ://www.hindu.com/2010/11/05/stories/2010110556320100.htm

HYDERABAD: Four persons, including a woman, sustained serious burns in a fire at DVV Chem Tech at SV Cooperative Industrial Estate in Jeedimetla on Thursday afternoon.

Company Managing Director D. Chandrasekhar (43), operator M. Venugopal (28), helper V.R. Vinod (30) and sweeper P. Laxmi (28) sustained more than 50 per cent burns.

They were shifted to a private hospital at Shapurnagar in Jeedimetla where their condition is said to be critical.

Jeedimetla Sub-Inspector P. Veera Swamy said flames could have erupted due to a chemical reaction while washing the reactor containing some chemical solvents after distillation.

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BBC NEWS - FIREMEN TACKLE CHEMICAL INCIDENT IN PENSILVA, http://www .bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-11696471

Firefighters in Cornwall have been dealing with a chemical incident after containers were found to be leaking.

About 40 firefighters attended the incident at Pensilva Industrial Estate after they were alerted at about 1530 GMT.

The fire service said the liquid has now been identified as sodium hydroxide and originated from one container.

An initial cordon of 50m (0.05km) was set up but has since been reduced to 20m (0.02km).

During the incident six firefighters wore gas-tight chemical protection suits and breathing apparatus to deal with the chemical spillage.

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CHEMICAL SPILL AT FRESNO PROCESSING PLANT - KMPH FOX 26 CENTRAL SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY NEWS SOURCE IN FRESNO, CALIFORNIA ENTERTAINMENT, NEWS, SPORTS AND WEATHER |, http://www.kmph .com/Global/story.asp?S=13445401

Five workers at a food processing plant in Fresno are recovering, after a chemical spill sent them to the hospital Thursday morning.

The incident happened around 3 a.m. at Lyons Magnus, south of Downtown Fresno.  

Hospital workers alerted fire crews to the incident, after several of the plant's employees drove themselves to the hospital, complaining of the fumes.

When firefighters arrived at the plant, along east Hamilton, workers told them they had cleaned up the spill of chlorine and acid.

Firefighters say the mix can aggravate a person's lungs.

There were approximately 50 people working at the plant at the time of the spill, however no one else was hospitalized.

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TRUCK CARRYING EXPLOSIVE CHEMICAL BURNS IN GA. | FIREHOUSE.COM, http://www.firehouse.com/news/top-headlines/truck-ca rrying-explosive-chemical-burns-ga

Nov. 03--Interstate 75 was closed for several hours overnight Monday after a truck carrying hazardous materials caught fire in Houston County.
Shortly before 8:40 p.m. Monday, a tractor-trailer blew a tire, which caused the rear axles to catch fire as the rig traveled south near mile marker 133, Houston County Fire Chief Jimmy Williams said.
The truck driver was able to get the vehicle off the road, but authorities had to shut down the interstate in both directions due to the threat of explosion from the cargo of hexane, Williams said.
"It has a potential to cause a big explosion," Williams said. "It's highly flammable."
Firefighters from Houston, Peach and Dooly counties and Perry were on the scene along with the Georgia State Patrol and Georgia Department of Transportation.
The northbound lanes remained closed for nearly three hours and the southbound lanes were closed for about eight hours as the hexane was being transferred to another truck.

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EXPLOSION ROCKS ERC - THE NEWS RECORD - NEWS, http ://www.newsrecord.org/news/explosion-rocks-erc-1.2393656

Wednesday afternoon brought a series of mishaps and mayhem to the University of Cincinnati Main Mampus and surrounding area.
At approximately noon, an explosion in an Engineering Research Center laboratory led to the evacuation of ERC, Rhodes and Baldwin halls.
The explosion was caused by a graduate student working inside a chemical fume safety cabinet, said Jeff Corcoran, UC Police Division assistant chief.
"They had an unexpected reaction with the chemicals," Corcoran said. "The glass in the fume hood broke when the chemicals reacted."
The student sustained minor injuries from the shattered glass and was transported to University Hospital.
"The fire department and hazardous material team went in," Corcoran said. "They found no chemicals in the air, although there is obviously some spilled material."
After the explosion, the student pushed a button next to the fume hood to trigger ERC's emergency ventilation system. The system also triggers the building's fire alarms, which led to the precautionary evacuation.
At approximately 1:30 p.m., UC's environmental health and safety finished surveying the building, and it was deemed safe for re-entry.
Cincinnati Fire Department=E2=80=98s Ladder 20 left the scene on campus in response to a house fire on the 3400 block of Brookline Avenue at 1:15 p.m.
"When the company showed up on the scene, there was heavy fire coming out of the back of the building," said CFD district chief Ronald Dexter. "It appears to have started between the second and third floor in the floor space, went up the walls and into the attic."
The fire was originally a two-fire alarm, but the incident officer reduced the alarm due to the manpower, size of the building and amount of smoke, Dexter said.

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INSIDETORONTO ARTICLE: DOZENS OF FIREFIGHTERS RESPOND TO CHEMICAL LEAK, http://www.insidetoronto.com/news/l ocal/article/897639--dozens-of-firefighters-respond-to-chemical-leak

People living and working within three kilometres of a Scarborough chemical plant were asked to stay indoors during the lunch hour Wednesday, Nov. 3, following a sulfuric acid leak. 
Emergency crews were called to Chemtura Canada at 10 Chemical Court near Manse and Coronation roads at 11:05 a.m.

"It was for a chemical hazard. There was a chemical cloud," Toronto police Const. Wendy Drummond said. "It's a highly corrosive, highly toxic chemical that was released into the air, forming a cloud."

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MILK PLANT CLEANS UP AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL - ABC NEWS (AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION), http:// www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/11/04/3056846.htm

Emergency crews spent yesterday afternoon cleaning up a chemical spill at the Murray Goulburn milk processing factory at Leongatha.

The Country Fire Authority (CFA) says nitric acid leaked in a storage area at the factory yesterday morning.

Some Murray Goulburn workers tried to clean up the spill but were overcome by fumes.

Dozens of firefighters, along with staff from the Environment Protection Authority, were called to the factory.

CFA operations officer Simon Bloink says the clean-up was a delicate operation.

"Within that cleaning room there was other products. Part of the product was touching metalwork and there was a gas given off, so we just had to make sure that there was no gas present within that room before we could hand it back to Murray-Goulburn," he said.

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NO INJURIES IN FIRE AT GENEVA PLANT - BEACON NEWS, http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/2222345-418/police -koster-aurora-fire-block.html

No one was injured when a 500-gallon chemical vat ignited at a Geneva business Wednesday morning.

According to Geneva Deputy Fire Chief Jerry Koster, firefighters were called to Olon Industries, 411 Union St., at 5:52 a.m. for a fire inside the building. A vat containing 500 gallons of acetone ignited while employees were adding chemicals, Koster said.

The sprinkler system activated and contained the fire to the vat, Koster said.

Firefighters were able to put out the fire using chemical extinguishers.

There was no physical damage to the building, Koster said. He estimated the cleanup would cost about $1,000. Koster said the company is investigating the cause of the fire, but officials suspect a static spark may have started it.

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UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI BUILDING EVACUATED DUE TO CHEMICAL SPILL, http://www.kypost. com/dpps/news/tri-state_news/university-of-cincinnati-building-evacuated-d ue-to-chemical-spill_5413164

CINCINNATI - Operations have returned to normal after a chemical leak forced an evacuation at the University of Cincinnati on Wednesday.

 

The incident happened in the Engineering Research Center on Woodside Drive around noon.

One student was treated for cuts from broken glass.

Officials have not said what kind of chemicals were invovled.

Students and faculty were allowed to return to the building around 2 p.m., according to University of Cincinnati police.

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HAZMAT CREW CLEANS UP SMALL METH LAB IN VACANT TULSA HOUSE | TULSA WORLD, http: //www.tulsaworld.com/webextra/content/2010/crimesite/article.aspx?subjecti d=450&amp;articleid=20101103_11_0_TulsaF416554

Tulsa Fire Department Hazmat crews cleaned up what they believe was a meth lab Wednesday evening, officials said.
Istvan Balogh, a Hazmat Team member, said they were called to a vacant house in the 400 block of South Wheeling Avenue to clean up materials associated with making methamphetamine and the "remnants of a past lab that was working.="

Balogh said the small lab wasn=E2=80=99t operational at the time but that they did find materials to produce the drug. He said the lab might have been used today.

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HAZMAT CREWS CALLED, SENIORS DISPLACED IN LEHIGH CO. - REGIONAL NEWS - LEHIGH VALLEY STORY - WFMZ ALLENTOWN, http:// www.wfmz.com/lehighvalleynews/25627291/detail.html

EMMAUS, Pa. -- Several people have been displaced after insect foggers caused a HazMat situation at an apartment complex for senior citizens in Lehigh County.
Crews were called to the East Penn Place One apartment building in the 600 block of Broad Street in Emmaus around 8:30 Wednesday night.
Officials say the fumes from the insect foggers forced residents on the second floor to evacuate.
Some of the residents had to find another place to stay for the night and a few others were taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons but everyone is expected to be ok.

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DOUGLAS, ARIZONA : NEWS : HAZMAT SCARE FORCES SCHOOL EVACUATION : DOUGLAS DISPATCH, http://www.douglasdispatch.com/articles/2010/11/03/ne ws/doc4cd08e468b068443914152.txt

Ray Borane Middle School was evacuated Monday afternoon after a white substance was found on the floor of one of the boys=E2=80=99 bathrooms.


Larry Blaskey/Douglas Dispatch Douglas Police Lt. Kraig Fullen, right, provides Assistant Superintendent Bonnie Lopez, foreground and Superintendent Sheila Rogers an update on the substance found at the middle school.
Hide Caption

(Use arrows above to view more photos)

Even though the incident apparently occurred sometime around 10 a.m., the Douglas Fire Department was not called until 1:13 p.m. Monday.


Both the EMS and HazMat team were called out.


Douglas Fire Chief Mario Novoa said the substance found was not toxic. "We have a new chemical analyzer that tests for 40,0000 different dangerous chemical substances and the white powder was not in the database.,=" he said.

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