WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) -- Police
are investigating a small explosion at the Waterloo Public
Library.
Sgt. Rob Camarata says police responded to a report
of an explosion just before 5 p.m. Saturday, and found what appeared to
be an improvised explosive device. The police department's bomb squad
found it was small chemical explosive device. No one was hurt.
The
Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier reports that the library was closing when
the explosive, described as a pop bottle, went off and created a bad
smell.
The library's executive director, Sheryl McGovern,
tells KWWL that a few patrons and several employees were in the building
at the time.
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Eastbound Interstate 70 reopened
about 8 p.m. tonight after a tanker truck rollover shut down both
directions, but westbound lanes are stopped at Empire.
At 11 p.m.
authorities said westbound I-70 would remain closed most of the
night.
A tanker headed west and carrying methanol rolled
over around 6:20 p.m. Authorities worried about an inhalation hazard
shut down the highway.
Hazmat crews are on the scene to unload the tanker,
according to Ted Hill, traveler information specialist with the Colorado
Department of Transportation.
For now, CDOT recommends the
following lengthy alternate routes: US 40 to CO 9 (Winter Park to
Kremmling) or US 285 to CO 9 (Fairplay to Frisco).
Methanol,
also called "wood alcohol," is a clear, flammable liquid used in a
number of chemical products including fuel additive MTBE and in fuel
cell technology, according to industry group the Methanol
Institute.
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WHEAT RIDGE -
The Arvada Fire Department says potentially hazardous materials were
found inside a hotel room at the Ramada Inn at 4700 Kipling about 8:45
Sunday morning. Fire and hazardous material crews responded to the
scene.
Hotel
employees found the materials while cleaning the rooms and notified
emergency crews. The employees were decontaminated as a precaution and
released at the scene.
It is believed that the materials may be from a
possible methamphetamine lab but the situation is still under
investigation by the drug task force team.
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(KMOV) -- A
building at a company that makes explosive chemicals caught fire after a
nearby truck erupted in to flames.
Fire crews
were called to scene on Chouteau Avenue, just south of the Poplar Street
Bridge and along the Mississippi River Saturday afternoon. When
crews arrived, smoke was billowing out of a large building.
The building belongs to a chemical company named
Superior Solvents. Crews worked cautiously because the company
produces explosive chemicals like paint thinner, printing solvents and
acetone. It is not clear if the building housed these dangerous
chemicals.
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More than 12
hours after a gas leak led to a scare in many parts of central Mumbai on
Saturday morning around 8.30am, fire and civic authorities are still
looking for the source of the gas leak which left many complaining of
itchy eyes, coughing and nausea.
While
admitting that the symptoms pointed strongly to the possibility that the
leaked gas was ammonia, none of the authorities were willing to go on
record saying so.
In the past seven months this is the fourth gas leak
in the metropolitan region, which has thrown light on the casual
attitude of authorities regarding gas leak incidents. In July 2010,
there was a chlorine leak at Haji Bunder in Sewri which sent 123 people
to the hospital. In the same month, a chlorine gas leak occurred in
Bhivandi.
On Saturday morning, people residing in Matunga,
Dadar and Mahim complained of a burning sensation in the eyes as well as
sore throats. A fire brigade rushed to the spot to find the source of
gas leak, but failed.
Authorities suspected it to be an ammonia gas leak.
However, since none of the affected areas have industries in their
vicinity, the source of the leak proved to be a puzzle. Fire officials
even contacted Rashtriya Chemical and Fertilizers (RCF) in Chembur and
other chemical units in the surrounding area to trace the leak but were
unsuccessful.
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An unknown odor shut down part of a major road
Friday night.
California Highway Patrol closed a part of Highway
111 in the North Shore area, from Bay Drive through Garfield. They say
the smell was too much to handle.
A Riverside County Hazmat team
was called in but couldn't determine where the smell was coming from.
The road was reopened around 7 p.m. Friday night.
This is the
same area where a smell has sickened staff and students at Saul Martinez
Elementary School.
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FOUR PEOPLE WERE TAKEN TO THE
HOSPITAL TODAY AFTER A CHLORINE GAS LEAK AT A WESTSIDE RECYCLING
BUSINESS.
Four people were taken to the hospital today after a
chlorine gas leak at a Westside recycling business. it happened
just before noon today at Southern Metals Recycling on Tremont
Avenue.
According to Savannah Fire, employees began to
dismantle a 200 pound cylinder for recycling -- they didn't know at the
time it contained Chlorine, which began leaking.
A full hazmat
response was issued to contain the leak and OSHA was called in to
investigate.
Officials say the four employees that were exposed
suffered various degrees of respiratory distress.
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Nine people
were treated for smoke inhalation after a chemical fire broke out Friday
morning at a Deerfield Beach cosmetic manufacturer.
At about 10 a.m., Deerfield Beach Fire Rescue
received a report of a fire at Oxygen Development at 1441 W. Newport
Center Drive.
John Quintoni, of Deerfield
Beach Fire Rescue, said firefighters arrived to find a 55-gallon drum on
fire in a lab.
According to fire officials,
crews quickly extinguished the chemical fire. Eight workers and a
firefighter were taken to a hospital for smoke inhalation. About 200
employees were evacuated from the building, and they were checked out
for injuries related to the chemicals or smoke inhalation.
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MADURAI: Virudhunagar deputy
tahsildar A Chandrasekhar said the body, which was claimed by two women,
was identified as that of David Livingston (33) and handed over to
Rajapushpam. Murugeswari was given the remains of her husband,
Gunasekharan (32).
Fire officer Karunakaran said
improper handling of chemicals could have caused the
explosion.
The chemical mixture used in fireworks needs to be
filled in cases immediately in wet form as otherwise they are highly
inflammable. "We suspect the workers left the wet mixture when they took
their tea break," he said.
Kannicheripudur village
administrative officer lodged a complaint with the Vachakarapatti
police, stating that the unit had used unauthorised chemicals that led
to the explosion.
Last year, 15 persons were
killed in similar accidents in the region. The state government had
launched a crackdown to ensure that safety norms and regulations were
strictly followed in the factories, some of which function without even
licenses.
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POLICE are warning motorists to avoid the Huntingdon
area after a tanker collided with a lorry and spilled its load of
hazardous chemicals onto the A14 at the Spittals Interchange.
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A mystery
chemical caused breathing difficulties for students at Barrie's St.
Joseph's High School on Friday, sending some to hospital.
"Apparently
they have inhaled some sort of chemical," said Fire Chief John Lynn. "We
don't know what it is or what caused it.
"Our crews went in and did air
monitoring, but we couldn't find anything."
A total of 26 St. Joe's students
went to Barrie Royal Victoria Hospital, 19 by city bus and the rest by
ambulance, hospital officials said.
More than
half the students were released immediately into parental care. A few
were triaged through the emergency department, but none were
admitted.
The fire department's hazardous materials unit was
on the scene Friday afternoon investigating the suspicious
chemical.
St. Joe's was evacuated at about noon because of the
incident.
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LEBANON, Pa. (WHTM) - A man was
injured Thursday morning in an small chemical explosion in South Lebanon
Township, according to emergency officials.
Investigators said the
unidentified man was flown to a hospital for burns he suffered in the
accident at Curwood Specialty Films along Keystone Drive.
Officials
said they believe a chemical caused the explosion in a piece of
equipment the man was working on.
Ten other workers who were near
the explosion were not injured.
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Maple Shade firefighters responded to an explosion
Tuesday night that blew out the windows of a unit at the Southern Arms
apartment complex, sending one man to the hospital for treatment of
burns.
According to MSFD Chief Andrew Simonsick, the blast
and subsequent fire was brought on by a reaction between some household
chemicals which were being stored under the kitchen sink.
=93We=92re
still trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Some of the
things just don=92t add up. We=92re looking into everything.=94
Simonsick
said the fire was definitely accidental and there was no malicious
intent.
The kitchen and the living room of the unit
sustained damage and some windows of the unit were blown out by the
explosion. Residents of the building were evacuated at approximately 8
p.m. and were able to return less than two hours later, he
said.
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A dangerous
chemical found stored in the inner-city office of Public Health South
prompted a full-scale hazardous material operation at the Invercargill
Fire Service yesterday.
The incident has raised
questions about how a canister of calcium cyanide, labelled "Poison
Cyanogas", could sit undetected in the Spey St offices of Public Health
South for 18 months.
Although one of Public Health South's roles was to
offer advice on hazardous substances, the canister was simply placed in
storage on the premises.
Public Health South
Dunedin-based general manager Pip Stewart said the canister was dropped
into the Invercargill office some time in 2009 and put into a
storeroom.
It was discovered last year during an audit but
staff put it back into the storeroom while they decided what to do with
it.
"I don't think we would normally store anything like
that," Ms Stewart said.
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WASHINGTON - A Washington hotel
has been evacuated, and a hazardous materials team is on the scene to
investigate a possible chemical reaction that sent fumes through the
building.
D.C. fire department spokesman Pete Piringer says
the Washington Marriott Hotel was evacuated about 4 p.m. Thursday in the
city's Foggy Bottom neighborhood. Several streets also are closed in the
area, which could disrupt rush hour traffic.
Piringer says
one person was evaluated by medics.
Firefighters believe the
chemical reaction started in the hotel's trash compactor.
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ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- What
started as a planned day of wahoo fishing became a hazardous materials
incident when a boater pumped 71 gallons of gas into the rod holder
rather than the gas tank.
St. Johns
County Fire and Rescue was called to the RaceTrac gas station on State
Road 16 at Interstate 95 before dawn Thursday.
Rather than the gas filling the tank, it filled the
hull of the boat. The gas station was closed for more than two hours
while the hazmat team disabled all electronics on the boat to minimize
the risk of an explosion and drained the gas 5 gallons at a
time.
No one was injured, but the boat
will require some maintenance before it can be used again.
The boater, a man with 40 years experience, has a
new fishing story, just not one he will be proud to tell.
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St. Louis, MO (KSDK) - A potential Hazmat situation
ended Thursday night without any serious risk.
Hazmat and
several fire engines were called out to Elantas Pdg Inc., a chemical
company located in the 5200 block of North Second Street.
Fire
officials tell NewsChannel 5 that some type of chemical process may have
caused smoke in the building.
Hazmat crews were able to do a
building check. No hazardous chemicals were detected.
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SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) -
Salt Lake City hazmat crews were called to a "sodium hydrosulfide" spill
on California Avenue right by I-215 Thursday.
Firefighters
say the sutstance was in a container on a truck, and about five gallons
leaked out as the driver exited the freeway.
The truck
came from Tooele County. Utah Highway Patrol troopers retraced its
path to make sure none of the substance spilled out along the
way.
California Avenue and the northbund off-ramp onto
California Avenue was shut down during clean-up. "Sodium
hydrosulfide" smells like rotten eggs and it can irritate the eyse and
skin if a person comes in contact with it. In this case,
firefighters say no one was ever in danger.
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The Nutley
HazMat team responded Thursday to a contaminant spill on the Third
River, authorities reported.
DEBORAH ANN TRIPOLDI/NUTLEY SUN
Nutley firefighters help Hazmat member William
VonRoth address a spill Thursday on the Third River at the corner of
Ravine Avenue and Harrison Street.
The
contamination was possibly caused by oil or diesel fuel, according to
Nutley Police Det. Anthony Montanari. HazMat was using boons to soak up
the material and keep it from traveling down stream. The unit continued
to address the problem at 4 p.m. Thursday in the area of Harrison Street
and Ravine Avenue.
"We're currently trying to find the source of the
spill," Deputy Fire Chief Paul Cafone said at 5 p.m.
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