DCHAS-L Archives Jan 10 2011 - Chemical Safety headlines from Google

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HAZMAT CREWS WORK TO CLEAN UP BUTTERMILK SPILL - 21 NEWS NOW, MORE LOCAL NEWS FOR YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO -, http://www.wfmj .com/Global/story.asp?S=13812197

NORTH JACKSON, Ohio - Hazmat crews spent the day Friday trying to keep a spill from contaminating the Valley's major supply of drinking water.

A truck overturned on an Ohio Turnpike ramp in North Jackson late in the morning, spilling it's load of buttermilk. Crews were concerned that the liquid would leak into a stream that flows into the Meander Reservoir.

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BONVILLE Creek has been declared unsafe for swimming and fishing following a major chemical spill.

Sawtell residents this morning awoke to a nasty chlorine smell after as much as 7500 litres of sodium hypochlorite, otherwise known as liquid chlorine, spewed from the Sawtell sewerage treatment works.

Sawtell Fire Station commander Keith Rhoades said it was not known at this stage how much had spilled into nearby waterways but the situation was being monitored.

Sodium hypochlorite is used to disinfect reclaimed water produced by the plant. A council spokeswoman said the release was believed to be caused by mechanical failures but the incident had not affected the plant=92s operation.

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GRANITEVILLE REMEMBERS 2005 TRAGEDY | THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE, http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/metro/2011-01-08/g raniteville-remembers-2005-tragedy

GRANITEVILLE --- It was standing room only at the annual community memorial service remembering the train wreck and chemical explosion that took nine Graniteville lives in 2005.

Early on the morning of Jan. 6, 2005, a 42-car Norfolk Southern train crashed into two locomotives and two rail cars. The freight train was carrying more than 250 tons of toxic chlorine gas which was released in the crash.

Nine people died as a result of the toxic fumes, more than 250 people were sent to hospitals and about 5,400 people were evacuated.

Officials said the accident was caused by a displaced manual switch on the train tracks, which should have been put in the proper place by Norfolk Southern employees.

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HUNTERS EXPOSED TO CHEMICAL RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL - LOCAL / METRO - THESTATE.COM, http://www.thestate.com/2010/12/31/1626703/hunters-exp osed-to-chemical-released.html

The last of a group of 13 hunters exposed to a dangerous chemical that killed four of their hunting dogs was released Friday from KershawHealth.

Health officials suspect the chemical was the agricultural pesticide Temik, and an expert from Clemson Extension=92s pesticide office were en route to Lee County early Friday to help with the case, said Lt. Robert McCullough of the S.C. Department of Natural Resources.

Three adult hunters and one 11-year-old boy were admitted to the health center on Thursday, said spokeswoman Judy Ferrell. The center was placed in lockdown mode, with state health officials and county emergency officials notified. The other hunters in the group also went through detoxification procedures.

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VADODARA: Three persons were injured in an accident at Sujata Chemicals plant in Makarpura GIDC here on Saturday morning. The accident took place when an open vessel around which labourers were working fell down.

Sources said a chemical process using acidic chemicals was being conducted in the vessel when it suddenly collapsed. Two persons - Gangaram Vasava and Mangal Machhi - suffered serious burn injuries.

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JOHANNESBURG - One person died and another was seriously injured in an industrial site accident in Durban on Monday, KwaZulu-Natal paramedics said.

The pair were replacing a chemical valve in Island View when they were injured, said Netcare 911 spokesman Chris Botha.

One worker died on scene and another was taken to hospital after sustaining chemical burns to his body.

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HAZMAT TEAM, FIREFIGHTERS RESPOND TO CAMARILLO CHEMICAL SPILL =BB VENTURA COUNTY STAR, http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/jan/08/hazardous-mat erials-team-investigates-chemical/

Environmental health crews, a hazardous materials team and county firefighters responded to a spill of 50 to 60 gallons of a corrosive chemical in Camarillo that forced area businesses to evacuate several employees Saturday.

The spill of a copper plating solution in the 300 block of South Lewis Road in Camarillo occurred sometime overnight, the Ventura County Fire Department said Saturday afternoon. It identified the business involved as Church Technology.

Four people from nearby businesses were evacuated as a precaution, according to the Fire Department.

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I-76 RAMP CLOSES OVER SPILLED MILK - WKBN - 27 FIRST NEWS - LOCAL NEWS - YOUNGSTOWN, WARREN, COLUMBIANA, OHIO - SHARON, PENNSYLVANIA, http://www.wkbn.com/mostpopular/story/ I-76-Ramp-Closes-Over-Spilled-Milk/vqpLLCNXE0aV6WD83r4Jxw.cspx

About 3,000 gallons of milk spilled into a swampy-area that feeds into the Meander Reservoir Friday afternoon.

It happened around 1 p.m. after a tractor-trailer lost control and tipped over onto the ramp from Interstate 76 to Mahoning Avenue in Austintown. HAZMAT was called to clean up the spill because milk carries bacteria that can be harmful if it gets into a body of water.

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CHEMICAL LEAK SICKENS 62 IN EAST CHINA, http://engl ish.cri.cn/6909/2011/01/07/1461s613955.htm

A chemical leak sickened 62 people Thursday at a pharmaceutical plant in east China's Anhui Province, the local government said Friday.

The victims, all of whom were workers of the Wanbei Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd in Suzhou City, fell ill after inhaling fumes from the highly toxic solid phosgene, also known as triphosgene or BTC, that leaked from a laboratory at around 4:30 p.m. Thursday, said Zhu Hai, an official in charge of the city government's emergency response office.

Zhu said 37 workers were still being treated in hospital as of Friday afternoon, of whom eight were in critical condition.

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THE BLOTTER | HAZMAT LEAK AT VA HOSPITAL 'RESOLVES ITSELF' | SEATTLE TIMES NEWSPAPER, http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/theblotter/2013877983_hazmat. html

A Seattle Fire hazmat team responded to a chemical leak at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center Friday night =97 but by the time they arrived, the leak of a chemical gas had already cleaned itself up.

Seattle Fire spokeswoman Lt. Sue Stangl said part of the hospital was evacuated at about 9 p.m. Friday near a room where ethylene oxide, a chemical used to sterilize medical equipment, is kept. In the event of a leak, a system in the room generally detects the substance and sets off an alarm, starts its ventilation system and automatically cleans everything =97 which is exactly what happened.

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WILLSBORO PROPANE TANK LEAKS =BB BREAKING NEWS =BB PRESS-REPUBLICAN, http://pressrepublican.com/breaking2/x71339610/Willsboro-propan e-tank-leaks

WILLSBORO =97 Almost 400 people were evacuated in a half-mile radius here Friday morning after explosive gas began escaping from an underground propane tank.

The 1,000 gallon storage tank at Lakewood Senior Apartments was reported leaking at about 8:40 a.m., Essex County Emergency Services Director Donald Jaquish said.

=93We=92ve evacuated the apartment complex and the school, along with 15 people from nearby homes.=94

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HAZMAT CALLED TO CLEAN UP SPILL AT RAILROAD YARD - MASSILLON, OH - THE INDEPENDENT, http://www.indeonline.com/communities /jackson/x1049179653/Jackson-HAZMAT-personnel-assist-in-clean-up

Stark County Hazard Materials (hazmat) specialists from around the area were called early Thursday morning to help clean up a small spill at Wheeling Lake Erie Railroad Yard in the 2800 block of Gambrinus Ave. SW.

Scott Johnson, public information officer for the Canton Township Fire Department, said a railroad worker noticed the liquid - later identified as butane - leaking from the railcar which had traveled from the Southwestern region of the United States.

=93The issue was that a valve had vibrated itself open on transit,=94 Johnson said.

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TRANSPORTATION WORKERS HANDING HAZMAT SITUATION, http://www.m yfoxal.com/Global/story.asp?S=13796049

BIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC) - State transportation workers dealt with a hazmat situation in Birmingham on Thursday.

Officials say a company called Industrial Chemicals lost some of their barrels on Interstate 20. Those barrels were empty but on their way to be cleaned in Atlanta.

They were dropped all over the interstate from the Oporto Madrid exit to the Talladega area.

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SUSPICIOUS SUBSTANCE SHUTS DOWN BUILDING AT GEORGIA SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY, http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/news/suspi cious-substance-shuts-down-georgia-southern-university

ATLANTA - A piece of mail shut down a building Georgia Southern University in Statesboro Wednesday. Emergency workers quarantined employees inside after an envelope containing white powder was found on campus.

Officials say the powder came with admission papers sent to Lewis Hall. Many people were taken through decontamination.

A hazmat team took the powder to the CDC for testing.

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TEEN'S GOOD INTENTIONS CAUSE HAZMAT SCARE AT NORTH HIGHLANDS LANDFILL | NEWS10.NET | SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA | LOCAL NEWS, http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=116035 &catid=2

NORTH HIGHLANDS, CA - A Sacramento County Sheriff's Department hazmat crew safely detonated a flammable chemical at a North Highland landfill after a teenager tried to dispose of it Thursday afternoon.

The teen, a 16-year-old girl, brought a container of picric acid to the Sacramento County North Area Transfer Station on Roseville Road that had belonged to her late father, a chemist, according to sheriff's spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos.

The picric acid was marked as flammable or explosive and that prompted landfill operators to call the Sacramento Metro Fire District. The sheriff's department was also contacted.

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A major ammonia leak Wednesday forced the evacuation of about 800 residents living near a Hoke County turkey processing plant run by House of Raeford, a company with a history of chemical safety violations.

One unidentified plant worker was briefly hospitalized after a mechanical failure inside the plant sent about 6,000 pounds of the toxic chemical into the air.

It was the third major chemical accident in eight years for the N.C.-based poultry company. In 2003, worker Bruce Glover died following a chlorine leak at the company's Rose Hill plant. The following year, an ammonia leak at the same plant forced an evacuation and sent 17 workers and neighbors to the hospital.

Following each of those incidents, the proposed fines by N.C. OSHA were slashed - from $6,125 to $3,500 in the first case, and from $74,700 to $19,000 in the second.

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The fire broke out at chemical company near the Dutch city of Rotterdam, sending flames soaring 40 meters into the air.

A director from the facility is confident that the fire will be kept under control.

Mr. De Ridder, Director, Waste Products Terminal Moerdijk]:

"We have also tanks full of things that are very combustible. We are well prepared to keep it under control but against this kind of fire but there is not much you can do, as you see."

Smoke from the flames does contain toxic material, but the public environmental authority said that it had not received any complaints so far.

Still, people in the south west of the province, Zuid-Holland, were advised to stay indoors and shut their windows.

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About 200 gallons of sulfuric acid leaked from a pipe that broke outside the entrance of the Wynn Las Vegas on the Strip. Clark County, Nev. spokeswoman Stacey Welling told the Las Vegas Sun the accidental spill was caused by a contractor filling the pipe with the chemical right outside the resort. The fire department responded at about 8 a.m. PT, and the spill was contained within about an hour.

Movement along the Strip, jammed with traffic on normal days, was gridlocked in the area near the Las Vegas Convention Center and other venues, including the Venetian Hotel, where the Consumer Electronics Show is being held. More than 120,000 are attending the show, and many were trying to make their way via buses, taxis and cars to the convention center.

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VERNON TWP. =97 A freight train that derailed Thursday night near the corner of Pittsburg and Reed roads, damaging a tanker filled with hydrochloric acid, forced residents to evacuate their homes as emergency personnel struggled to stop the leaking chemical.

The Canadian National Railway freight train was eastbound from Battle Creek to Flat Rock about 6:30 p.m. when 12 cars derailed. Three tanker cars carrying hydrochloric acid overturned onto their sides, CN Public Affairs Director Patrick Waldron said. He added one tanker was spilling hydrochloric acid and another had a drip leak.

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Firefighters put out a two-alarm blaze Friday night at 12 Howard St., according to Lt. Anthony Chittum, a fire spokesman.

Chittum said a vat of chemical spilled and caught fire at Maida Inc. The unnamed chemical has to be kept heated, Chittum said.

The company makes electronic components.

The call came in around 8:45 p.m. as a fire alarm activation.

The sprinkler system in the large one-story building put out the majority of the fire, Chittum said.

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CHEMICAL ODOR, SMOKE CAUSE EVACUATION OF DOWNTOWN TOKYO BUILDING - THE MAINICHI DAILY NEWS, http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110108p2a00m0na013000c.html

About 260 people were evacuated from a building in downtown Tokyo after a chemical odor and white smoke engulfed the structure, sickening four men, firefighters have announced.

The Tokyo Fire Department is investigating the cause of the odor, which struck Nihon Building in Tokyo's Otemachi business district on the morning of Jan. 8.

A security guard at the building called an ambulance at around 10:10 a.m., saying, "An alarm sounded and there's a chemical odor in the basement."

Firefighters who rushed to the scene found white smoke coming from the first basement floor and detected hydrogen cyanide and sulfurous acid gas.

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1 KILLED IN EXPLOSION AT FRENCH CHEMICAL PLANT - ABC NEWS, http://abc news.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=12553369

An explosion at a chlorine plant in southern France on Thursday killed one man and injured nine, authorities said.

The administration for the Bouches-du-Rhone region said a leak of water containing sodium prompted the explosion. The blast occurred at a plant run by Gazechim in the Mediterranean port of Lavera.

The administration said in a statement that no gases leaked outside the site. Traffic around the site was restricted, and specialists in chemical accidents were there.

A 28-year-old man who worked at the plant died immediately, the administration said, without providing details. The local emergency service said that one other person suffered serious injuries and eight others were treated for chemical poisoning.

The explosion coughed up a black and white cloud and damaged a reservoir, causing chlorine gas to escape, the administration said in a statement.

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POLICE INVESTIGATING SODA POP BOTTLE EXPLOSION AT LOCAL HIGH SCH - WBTV 3 NEWS, WEATHER, SPORTS, AND TRAFFIC FOR CHARLOTTE, NC-, http://www.wbtv .com/Global/story.asp?S=13798651

HUNTERSVILLE, NC (WBTV) - Huntersville Police were called to North Mecklenburg High School after school officials found an exploded small soda bottle inside a school trash can.

According to Charlotte-Mecklenburg School officials, students reported hearing a popping sound during school on Thursday.

When administrators discovered the source of the noise, the Huntersville police were notified and called to the school.

According to a statement issued to parents by Principal Matthew Hayes, "A student placed Drano and aluminum foil in a small plastic bottle causing gases to build up and made a loud popping sound when the gases escaped."

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CHEMTURA STRIKES SETTLEMENT DEAL OVER BIO-LAB FIRE - BANKRUPTCY BEAT - WSJ, http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/2011/01/06/c hemtura-strikes-settlement-deal-over-bio-lab-fire/

Chemical maker Chemtura Corp. reached a settlement in bankruptcy court this week over claims connected to a fire at its Bio-Lab Inc. plant that caused the mass evacuation of parts of Conyers, Ga., and closed an interstate highway in May 2004.

Under the deal, Chemtura agreed to place $7 million in a settlement fund that will make payments to affected residents, property owners and businesses. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, where Chemtura sought Chapter 11 protection in 2009, must sign off on the deal.

Dry chlorine pellets fueled the massive fire at the swimming pool chemicals plant, according to a newspaper account of the incident.

The fire =93created a noxious cloud of smoke that stretched over east Georgia=94 and shut down I-20 for hours, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported at the time.

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01/05/2011: EPA FINES DREW UNIVERSITY FOR HAZARDOUS WASTE VIOLATIONS, http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/D86CAF597F85ABD08525 780F006D6691

New York, N.Y.) Drew University has agreed to pay $145,000 to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to properly manage hazardous waste at its Madison, N.J. campus. In 2007, the university had self-reported violations to EPA and corrected the violations.

"EPA's self-audit policy is intended to help institutions recognize violations of federal environmental laws and take action to correct them," said EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck. "We expect institutions that conduct their own audits to maintain compliance with the regulations. Drew=92s failure to do so is not consistent with this policy.=94

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DUTCH FIREFIGHTERS BATTLE BLAZE AT CHEMICAL SITE - BLOOMBERG, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/201 1-01-05/dutch-province-placed-on-alert-after-chemical-fire-update1-.html

Dutch firefighters are battling a blaze at a chemical storage facility in Moerdijk, south of Rotterdam, an incident that triggered the highest alert possible for the region and forced local residents to stay inside.

Firefighters are expected to bring the fire under control in the next few hours by covering the flames with a huge blanket of foam, Wim Denie, the mayor of Moerdijk, told a press conference today. Denie warned residents to stay inside as toxic clouds may pose a health risk.

The fire broke out at about 2:30 p.m. local time and no casualties have been reported, Willem van Hooijdonk, police spokesman of the Brabant province in the south of the Netherlands, told NOS television. Television footage by Dutch broadcaster NOS showed thick clouds of smoke heading toward the city of Dordrecht.

Chemie-Pack, with headquarters in Roosendaal in southern Netherlands, operates a covered tank depot with 10 tanks with a capacity of 23,500 liters (6,200 gallons) each and the ability to store non-hazardous as well as inflammable or toxic materials, according to the company=92s website.

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AUTHORITIES RESPOND TO FOXBORO CHEMICAL LEAK - THE SUN CHRONICLE ONLINE - NEWS, http://www.thesunchronicle.com/articles/2011/01/05/news/8644844.txt

FOXBORO - Local firefighters, water department workers and a state hazardous materials team responded this afternoon to a chemical incident inside a town water pumping station off Mechanic Street.

First thought to be a spill of chemicals used by the water department, the problem was caused by the explosion of a truck-type battery on a water pump engine, officials said.

The incident began about 2 p.m.

In an initial report about 4 p.m., authorities suspected that about five gallons of potassium hydroxide had leaked at a pipe fitting in the station building.

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HAZMAT TEAMS RESPOND TO AMMONIA LEAK | ABC11.COM, http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id =7881703

HOKE COUNTY (WTVD) -- The House of Raeford turkey facility in Hoke County had to be evacuated due to a hazmat situation Wednesday afternoon.

Authorities tell ABC11 Eyewitness News there was an ammonia leak from a refrigeration area within the plant on Central Avenue around 2:30 p.m.

Fire crews say maintenance work was being done on the valve when it failed.

Officials quickly capped the leak, but a second leak developed and ammonia fumes filled the plant. It took crews several hours to cap the second leak.

Employees were evacuated and emergency officials sent out reverse 911 phone calls to about 800 residents alerting them about the situation.

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BREAKING NEWS: LEWIS HALL AT GEORGIA SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY QUARANTINED | WSAV TV, http://www2.wsav.com/news/2011/jan/05/ breaking-news-envelope-suspicious-substance-under--ar-1304178/

Georgia Southern University is investigating an envelope an employee received this morning that contained a suspicious white powder.

University police responded at 8:53 a.m.

The envelope was received at Lewis Hall which is an administrative building that houses the University's Office of Admissions.

HazMat teams were called to the university as a precaution and are trying to identify the substance. Lewis Hall has also been quarantined.

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HOUSTON - All northbound lanes of the Gulf Freeway at 610 were reopened Wednesday morning after HazMat crews cleared a fuel spill on the highway.

An 18-wheeler truck, owned by Kroger, was traveling northbound on the Gulf Freeway around 2:45 a.m. when it lost control on the rain- slick roadway and struck a concrete median.

The crash caused the fuel tank to rupture, spilling diesel fuel all over the highway.

The morning rush-hour commute was delayed a few hours, but traffic returned to normal around 8 a.m.

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30 CATS REMOVED FROM NORTHSIDE HOME - SAN ANTONIO &AMP; TEXAS NEWS STORY - KSAT SAN ANTONIO, http://www.ksat.com /news/26377688/detail.html

SAN ANTONIO -- The San Antonio Fire Department, a hazmat crew and Animal Care Services are in the process of removing about 30 cats from a Northside home.

Teams from Animal Care Services arrived at the home, located in the 500 block of Olney, around mid-morning on Wednesday.

Before they could enter the home, hazmat crews went inside to check the ammonia levels. That ammonia was the result of cat urine inside.

Officials said the situation first came to light when EMS crews responded to a call for a stroke.

The homeowner was taken to the hospital and Animal Care Services was called to deal with the cats.

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