Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 08:24:50 -0500
Reply-To: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
Sender: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
From: Ralph Stuart <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: Chemical Safety headlines from Google

links to details available at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas< /div>


METH LAB FOUND IN CHESTERFIELD HOTEL ROOM - NEWS - PROGRESS-INDEX, http://progress-index.com/news/meth-lab-fo und-in-chesterfield-hotel-room-1.1103418#axzz1Dekkyjtk

CHESTERFIELD - State Police have arrested a Florida man and charged him with manufacturing drugs after a traffic stop for expired license plates and a search of his Chesterfield hotel room led to the discovery of a methamphetamine lab.

Shortly before 9 a.m. Wednesday, Trooper S.D. Holland was flagged down in the 2400 block of West Hundred Road in Chesterfield County. The citizen told the trooper of suspicious activity in the area and provided information on the suspect to the officer.

The trooper then saw the suspect getting into a vehicle and initiated a traffic stop based on expired license plates.

According to State Police Sgt. Thomas Molnar, based on information received from the suspect and after an affidavit for a search warrant was obtained, a search of the suspect's room was conducted.

Additionally, six other rooms were evacuated as a precautionary measure.

Inside the hotel room, authorities found an active meth lab. Molnar said that the suspect, Joshua A. Rhodes, 31, of Valrico, Fla., had been in the room for several days.

"Chemicals used in making meth are highly poisonous and could pose a hazard to first responders, and law enforcement officers who are investigating the incident as well as to the environment, if exposed to them," Molnar said of the chemicals used in the manufacture of the drug.

-----------------------

CHIHUAHUA CAUSES FREAK HOUSE FIRE AFTER CHEWING MOBILE PHONE, http://www.sify.c om/news/chihuahua-causes-freak-house-fire-after-chewing-mobile-phone-news- international-lckpukjafjj.html

A pet Chihuahua in Britain is said to have caused a freak house fire when it decided to chew on a mobile phone belong to its owner.

Lily the Chihuahua apparently chewed through a Samsung handset and dislodged the battery while gnawing on it. The dog's saliva is believed to have caused a chemical reaction with the lithium in the phone's battery, and the heat from the reaction then ignited the carpet.

The incident had taken place as nine-year-old Aysha, who owns the phone, was sleeping.

When the smoke alarm went off, her mum Lynn Sayed, 45, who was watching TV downstairs with her friend Stephanie Demarco, rushed upstairs and grabbed her daughter before fleeing from the house.

A search of the house in South Shields, Tyneside, revealed the badly dented battery had scorched into the carpet.

-----------------------

YELLOW ADVERTISER TODAY | NEWS | FACTORY FIRE | 2011, http://www.yellowad.co.uk/news.cfm?id=5273&amp;headlin e=Factory%20fire

RESIDENTS in Maldon were told not to leave their homes on Tuesday after a factory erupted in fire and phosphorus explosions. 
Fire crews were called to the foil and embossing die unit in Sil-Die, Fullbridge, at 12.42pm. 
A chemical officer was ordered to the scene as the basement of the two-storey building contained highly flammable chemicals magnesium developer and acetone fixer. 
Speaking from the scene, assistant divisional officer, Nigel Dilley, said the first tank exploding created a chain reaction in the second. 
He said: =93There was a huge bang and the explosion created a bright white flash with pieces of phosphorus flying everywhere.=94 
Roads surrounding the area were closed and residents were told not to leave their homes. 
Maldon Council also set up two rest centres for those who could not return home.

-----------------------

FIRE BREAKS OUT AFTER EXPERIMENT GOES AWRY | CAMPUS TIMES, http://www.campustimes.org/2011/02/10/fire-breaks-out-aft er-experiment-goes-awry/

Last week,  campus laboratory facilities were not only abuzz with the customary stirrings of students at work, but literally ablaze as well.  At 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 2, a fire broke out on the fourth floor of Hutchinson Hall, the product of an experimental blunder.
An undergraduate in the midst of an independent study research project was directly involved. His name has not been released.
According to UR Chemistry Department Chairman Robert K. Boeckman, the student had been working with a process called column chromatography, whereby organic chemists separate pure compounds, when the solvent that he was using ignited. The most valid speculation regarding causal factors is that one of the metal catalysts within the chemical reaction taking place had dried out and caused a spark, thus igniting the solvent.
=93We will never know for sure,=94 Boeckman said.
The fire was entirely unexpected, as relevant experimental proceedings had been underway for months without incident.
=93In my experience of running column chromatography in over 25 years in this building, this has never happened,=94 Boeckman said.

-----------------------

METH LAB BLAMED FOR CLARKSVILLE HOTEL FIRE | THELEAFCHRONICLE.COM | THE LEAF CHRONICLE, http://www.theleafchronicle.com/article/20110210/NEWS01/102100309

A man was injured Tuesday night when he set himself on fire while cooking methamphetamine inside an area hotel room, according to authorities.

Clarksville Fire Rescue and Emergency Medical Services responded to a fire alarm at the Value Place Inn, at 675 Kennedy Lane, at 8:46 p.m. Tuesday. By the time emergency crews arrived, the sprinkler system had extinguished the fire, Fire Marshall Ray Williams said. Williams said a man who was staying in room 328 was outside trying to use snow to cool himself off when crews arrived.

A search of his room uncovered a burned bathtub, a one-gallon can of camp fuel and the burned remains of a plastic Coke bottle. There was also a strong odor of camp fuel coming from the room, Williams said.

"The temperature in that room had to reach at least 155 degrees for the sprinkler system to come on," Williams said. "We suspected that it was things used to cook meth."

The man had second- and third-degree burns on his face, neck, chest and both arms, Williams said. The man was sedated and transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center's burn unit. He man has not been identified, and his condition is unknown at this time.

-----------------------

EXPLOSIONS, FIRE IN MONT BELVIEU NATURAL GAS PLANT - ASSOCIATED CONTENT FROM YAHOO! - ASSOCIATEDCONTENT.COM, http://www.associatedcontent.com/arti cle/7734940/explosions_fire_in_mont_belvieu_natural.html?cat=8

Explosions rocked the city of Mont Belvieu around noon central time on Tuesday. The explosions were due to malfunctions at a chemical plant owned by Enterprise Products. The blast could be felt miles away from  the chemical plant, and resulted in huge flames that could be seen from the downtown Houston area. The explosion destroyed most of the Mont Belvieu processing plant, and several vehicles parked nearby.

The facility that caught fire was used primarily for separating natural gas into its liquid components. Enterprise has a decent safety record, with their last major accident occurring six years ago when an employee was killed in another Texas facility in Mirando City. None of the employees accounted for at the Texas chemical plant reported having any injuries. A spokesperson for Enterprise Products reported later in the evening that they still had a missing employee.

Firefighters arrived promptly on the scene and attended to the flames. The flames, fueled by a butane-carrying pipeline that was ripped open by the explosions, was left to burn out on its own. A state of emergency was not declared by Chambers County officials, and, besides the closure of state highway 146, many things went on as usual around the city.

-----------------------

2 TEENS DETAINED FOR SETTING OFF CHEMICAL BOMB AT WATERLOO PUBLIC LIBRARY, http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/article_d0a35dbc-3451-1 1e0-ba68-001cc4c03286.html

WATERLOO, Iowa --- Two Waterloo boys were booked Tuesday on arson charges in connection with the chemical bomb that exploded at the Waterloo Public Library last month.
Waterloo Police took into custody Marqwane Shakeen Smith, 16, of 702 Allen St., and Nekema Ziquavise Carter, 13, of 420 Center St., on charges of first-degree arson. Smith is charged as an adult and Carter as a juvenile. The charge is a Class B felony, with Smith facing up to 25 years in prison if convicted as charged.
The two reportedly confessed to making the chemical bomb, as well as transporting it and planting the device at the Waterloo Public Library Jan. 22.
That day, at about 4:45 p.m., an explosive went off on the first floor of the library in the book shelves to the left of the check-in/out desk.
Police said the device consisted of normal household items that were enclosed in a pop bottle. The ingredients reacted chemically and the pressure buildup causes the bottle to burst.
No one was injured, but the library was evacuated, and the explosion damaged the library floor.

-----------------------

CHESTER METH LAB: METH LAB INVESTIGATION AT CHESTERFIELD MOTEL - WTVR, http://www.wtvr.com/wtvr-ch ester-meth-lab-meth-lab-investigation-at-chesterfield-motel-20110209,0,433 5369.story

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY =97 Chesterfield Fire and EMS Hazmat team and Virginia State Police are investigating a meth lab inside the Day's Inn in the 2400 block of West Hundred Road near Interstate 95 in Chester.

Virginia State Police arrested 31-year-old Joshua A. Rhodes, of Valrico, FL and charged him with one count of manufacturing a Controlled Substance (Methamphetamines) which is a Felony. 

CBS 6 Reporter Jon Burkett spoke to a motel worker who says he discovered what looked like a meth lab in a motel room Wednesday morning.

-----------------------

FUEL SPILL CLOSES PART OF PARK ROW NEAR CITY HALL - DNAINFO.COM, http://www.dnainfo.com/20110209/downtown/smal l-fuel-spill-closes-park-row-lane-near-city-hall

DOWNTOWN =97 Fire department and HazMat crews closed off a lane of Park Row across from City Hall Wednesday after a small fuel spill, officials said.

Crews spread sand and gravel on the sidewalk and the street in front of 3 Park Row at Beekman Street around 2:15 p.m. Wednesday after about 20 - 30 gallons of fuel oil spilled onto the sidewalk and into the gutter, fire officials and witnesses said. 

A witness at the scene said a home heating oil company was delivering oil to the building when the ground delivery pipe apparently backed up and sent the incoming oil streaming onto the sidewalk.

-----------------------

STINKY CHEMICAL STOPS SANITATION TRUCK  | AJC.COM, http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/stinky-chemical-stops-sanitati on-832932.html

The odors coming from a sanitation truck in East Atlanta were so powerful, workers could no longer operate the truck.

Enlarge photo

Courtesy of Brian Lynch Atlanta fire department crews get ready to inspect chemicals believed to be used for the production of meth found in the garbage outside a home on Ormewood Avenue in East Atlanta.
Enlarge photo

Courtesy of Brian Lynch Atlanta fire department crews get ready to inspect chemicals believed to be used for the production of meth found in the garbage outside a home on Ormewood Avenue in East Atlanta.
Enlarge this map
Map data =A92011 - Terms of Use
Contaminated container in E. Atlanta

More Atlanta/Fulton news =BB

Standard witness has leg amputated
Michelle Obama visits Atlanta
Eunice Winters Hackney, 83: Helped people all her life
Stinky chemical stops sanitation truck
Atlanta/South Fulton
North Fulton
"They started compacting garbage and the containers broke, releasing an obnoxious odor," Atlanta fire Capt. Jolyon Bundridge told the AJC.

That odor turned out to be butyl alcohol, Bundridge said. A Hazmat team arrived to put the chemical containers in odor packs. Butyl alcohol can be used as a solvent or as a paint thinner.

Investigators have not yet determined which residents on the 1300 block of Ormewood Avenue tried to improperly dispose of the chemicals, Bundridge said.

-----------------------

GAS LEAK CAPPED, EVACUATIONS LIFTED - NEWS STORY - WFTV ORLANDO, http://www.wftv.com /news/26806330/detail.html

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Crews that were putting in a fence hit a gas line Wednesday, Orange County Fire Rescue told WFTV. Buildings on both sides of the 1100-block of Satellite Boulevard and Central Florida Parkway (see map) were evacuated around 1:30pm.
Hazmat crews responded to the scene and capped the leak around 2:40pm. Once the leak was capped, air monitoring meters were used to ensure the area was safe. Once the scene was mitigated, fire crews turned the scene over to TECO gas company and evacuations were lifted.

-----------------------

HAZMAT INVESTIGATION IN STAFFORD | NBC WASHINGTON, http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local-beat/H azmat-Investigation-in-Stafford-115675059.html

Hazmat crews in Virginia are trying to figure out what=92s causing a suspicious odor near a group of homes in Stafford.
The odor was reported yesterday near seven homes on Short Branch Lane near Woodstream Boulevard. Five families that live in that section of homes were evacuated and spent last night in a hotel.
Hazmat crews, along with officials from the Environmental Protection Agency, are at scene trying to determine the source of the smell. Crews have found high levels of methane in the soil near the homes, but that doesn=92t necessarily explain the strong smell.
Electricity has been shut off to the homes in the area as a precaution and the Red Cross is assisting those residents who were evacuated.

Previous post   |  Top of Page   |   Next post



The content of this page reflects the personal opinion(s) of the author(s) only, not the American Chemical Society, ILPI, Safety Emporium, or any other party. Use of any information on this page is at the reader's own risk. Unauthorized reproduction of these materials is prohibited. Send questions/comments about the archive to secretary@dchas.org.
The maintenance and hosting of the DCHAS-L archive is provided through the generous support of Safety Emporium.