From: DCHAS-L Discu ssion List [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Ralph Stuart
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2011 8:25 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google< /span>

Links to details available at http://pinbo ard.in/u:dchas

RESIDENTS COUGH UP TO A CHILLI NIGHT, http://www.caseyweeklycranb ourne.com.au/news/local/news/general/residents-cough-up-to-a-chilli-night/2 143005.aspx

A CRANBOURNE North resident cooking a box of chillis in an electric wok cause d a chemical emergency when neighbours were overcome by fumes on Tuesday last w eek.

Five ambulances, a Cranbourne CFA unit and a Hazmat response vehicle from Danden ong CFA were called to Lawless Drive when about 10 residents were affected by t he chilli fumes. The Hazmat unit was unable to detect the cause of the fumes because it was organic so a CFA crew was forced to rely on sniffing out the source.

Intensive care paramedic David Llewelyn said an ambulance arrived just before 10.30pm to treat two men who were coughing and having trouble breathing, and more ambulances arrived as the number of affected people grew.

"We had up to 10 people who were coughing and were dizzy and nauseated." H e said the fumes reached houses up to 150 metres away.

"We decided to do a doorknock of other homes to make sure no one else had been overcome, while the CFA worked to find the source of the fumes. It emerged someone was roasting strong chillies in the backyard and that's what caused the fumes."

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

TRAIN'S DIESEL FUEL SEEPS INTO THE SUSQUEHANNA RIVER - ABC27 - HARRISBURG, PA. NEWS AND WEATHER FROM WHTM-TV, http://www.abc27.com/story/14503300/trains-diesel-fue l-seeps-into-the-susquehanna-river

Hazmat crews spent Saturday afternoon cleaning up a diesel fuel spill along the we st bank of the Susquehanna River.

Brown sludge could be seen seeping from the bedrock for at least four miles along the shoreline, from the intersection of Front and Market streets in East Pennsb oro Township, to the John Harris Bridge.

Cumberland County public information officer John Bruetsch said the spill is the resul t of a "fuel leak" from a piece of Norfolk Southern train equipment fr om tracks near 4th Street that occurred late Tuesday evening.

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

TRACTOR-TRAILER HAULING ACID FLIPS ON HIGHWAY RAMP - KANSAS CITY NEWS STORY - KMBC KANSAS C ITY, http://www.kmbc.c om/news/27648206/detail.html

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- A tractor-trailer hauling 45,000 pounds of phosphoric acid flipped on the ramp from eastbound Interstate 70 to northbound I-435 Saturd ay morning.

The crash happened at 11:15 a.m. Rescue crews had to rescue the truck’s driver by removing the windshield of the truck, Kansas City, Kan., firefigh ters said.

The driver refused medical treatment, firefighters said.

Hazmat crews were also dispatched to the wreck because it involved acid.

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

TOXIC CONTAMINANTS LEAKING INTO WELLAND RIVER TRIBUTARY SYSTEM IN HAMILTON, http://www.nia garathisweek.com/news/article/997180--toxic-contaminants-leaking-into-wella nd-river-tributary-system-in-hamilton

Hamilton International Airport president and chief executive officer Richard Korosci l and Environment Hamilton officials agreed to share information to determine where toxic contaminants are leaking from the airport and into the Welland River tributary system.

The verbal agreement was made April 22 after Dr. Joe Minor a biologist and dire ctor of Environment Hamilton, revealed after a test on a sediment sample taken n ear a water outflow near the airport beside Airport Road found “extremely” high levels of perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS). Minor, who collected the one sample on April 9, and had it tested by a priv ate firm, Maxxam, found the sediment contained 170 parts per billion of PFOS. M inor said the result is more than three times the highest recorded levels in sediment that have been found in Lake Ontario. It cost EH $300 to conduct t he sample, said Minor.

“The PFOS contamination is coming off the airport property is active as we speak,” said Minor, speaking to reporters at the site of where he too k the sample, with the airport property in the background. “This is an active and on-going spill.”

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

NO DAMAGE DONE BY CHEMICAL REACTION AT PLANT | MCDOWELLNEWS.COM, http://www2.mcdowellnews.com/news/2011/apr/23 /no-damage-done-chemical-reaction-plant-ar-973320/

A chemical reaction Friday morning forced the temporary evacuation of the Coa ts North America plant in Woodlawn.

Palmer Morris, director of manufacturing at the thread finishing plant, said the chemical reaction was caused by rainwater leaking into the plant’s chemical room. At 9 or 9:30 a.m., the rainwater got into a barrel of sodium hydrosulfite, which is used in the dyeing process. The chemical is stored i n 35-gallon drums and the barrel contained 12 gallons of sodium hydrosulfite.

“A very small amount of water will cause the chemical reaction,” said Morris. “It smoked a little bit.”

The plant employees who were closest to the barrel smelled the chemical as it reacted. They notified the department manager and plant employees were move d away from that area of the building. Members of Woodlawn-Sevier Volunteer F ire Department were called to the scene. Firefighters consulted with plant managers, and it was decided that the entire plant should be evacuated.

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

FIREFIGHTERS EXTINGUISH CHEMICAL PLANT FIRE - FOX19 NEWS AND WEATHER - GREATER CINCINNAT I AREA, http://www.fox19.com/story/14502024/firefighters-battle-chemical- plant-fire

Fire crews are on the scene of a chemical plant in Winton Hills, after battling a two-alarm fire.

The fire started shortly before 1 p.m. at the Cognis plant, and is under contro l at this time. 

Scanner reports indicate that the building may contain Methylate, a compound of met hyl alcohol and a base.

The Cincinnati Fire Department and The St. Bernard Fire Department are on the s cene at this time.

There's no word yet on the cause of the fire, or the damages.

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

OILS BLAMED FOR FIRE AT COLLEGE (FROM SWINDON ADVERTISER), http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/8990554.Oils_blamed_ for_fire_at_college/

FRESH towels and massage oil have been identified as the cause of a fire which ri pped through one of the Swindon College beauty training salons last week.

Fire crews were called to the Pegasus tower in the college’s North Star ca mpus on April 12 after reports of a blaze on the fifth floor of the six-storey building.

Investigators have discovered that it started after a batch of towels, which had been use d for massage and had just been washed and tumble-dried, were stacked in the corner of the room.

Alan Harper, the group manager for the Swindon area of Wiltshire fire and rescue service, was in charge of the investigation and said unusual circumstances led to the fire.

“The cause of the fire was down to some of the oils which were used as part of t he health and beauty course,” he said.

“One of the oils, grape seed oil, which is part of the massage treatment, when t hat is absorbed into the towels the oil itself can then go through an oxidisati on process which starts to self heat.

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

BANK HOLIDAY GETAWAY MOTORISTS SUFFER LONG DELAYS - ROAD NOW REOPENED (FROM THIS IS LANCASHIRE), http://www.thisislancas hire.co.uk/news/8990070.Bank_holiday_getaway_motorists_suffer_long_delays__ _road_now_reopened/

MOTORISTS hoping to get away for a long-weekend break suffered long delays after a mysterious liquid was spotted on a road.

Firefighters based in Whitefield, Blackley and Ramsbottom were called to the eastbound M 60 between junction 18 for Bury and junction 19 for Middleton at just before 8.30pm on Thursday (April 20).

They discovered that an industrial vehicle had dropped an unknown substance onto the road.

Police closed all three lanes and diverted traffic via the M60 southbound near Hea ton Park for an hour until they concluded the chemical was not harmful and reop ened the road.

It caused tailbacks as far as junction 15 and delays of up to two hours.

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

FIRE, POLICE, HAZMAT, BOMB SQUAD RESPOND TO CHEMICAL SPILL - MILLBURN-SHORT HILLS , NJ PATCH, http://millburn.patch.com/articles/fire-police-haz mat-bomb-squad-respond-to-chemical-spill

Millburn Firefighters and Police, along with Essex County’s Bomb Squad and Nutley’s Hazardous Materials team, called in the state Department of Environmental Protection team on Friday night to test chemicals that had le aked from cracked 50-year-old bottles in a Millburn garage.

At about 9:30 p.m., DEP officials performed tests on the chemicals and  determined they did not pose a danger to the homeowners or the neighborhood , but called  in a contractor to have them properly removed, said Millbu rn Fire Battalion Chief Robert Eshavarria.

Phil Kirsch, the owner of the home on Cedar Street, said the bottles have been i n his garage for at least 50 years – ever since his father, a scientist who is now 93, worked in pharmaceuticals and brought them home.

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

AFD HANDLING HAZMAT CALL AT EMCORE | ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. | KRQE NEWS 13, http://www.kasa.com/dpps/news/business_1/afd-handling-haz mat-call-at-emcore_3784841

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The release of a hazardous material inside Emcore Corporation Frid ay morning brought fire units to the southeast Albuquerque plant and sent one employee to a hospital.

The Albuquerque Fire Department reported a "small amount of particulate metal" was released into the air about 11 a.m. with two employees poss ibly inhaling the substance.

AFD medics evaluated the two employees with one being sent to Lovelace Hospital for observation.

The high-tech manufacturing plant at Eubank Boulevard SE and Research Road prod uces components used with fiber optics and solar photovoltaics..

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

METH LAB SPARKED WILDFIRE, http://www.azdailysun.com/news/local/ crime-and-courts/article_6c97772c-b778-531c-abcc-5cdc18f87dcb.html

Officials with the Coconino County Sheriff's Office suspect a small methamphetamine l ab was to blame for the wildfire Wednesday east of A-1 Mountain.

A number of materials associated with making the drug were found at the scene , officials said.

At about 2 p.m. Wednesday, a pilot flying a private plane spotted the fire bur ning near a Forest Service road on state trust land and reported it to the Flags taff Airport control tower. Crews from the Coconino National Forest responded to the area and were able to contain the fire to a half-acre.

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

BODIES RECOVERED AT CZECH PLANT: VOICE OF RUSSIA, http://english.ruv r.ru/2011/04/23/49342932.html

At the Czech plant in Pardubice fragments of bodies have been recovered after the blast there.

The incident occurred on Wednesday. Nitroglycerin exploded at the chemical plant Explosia. 2 buildings were wiped out entirely, 9 people were injured. 4 people, present at the chemical plant at the time of the tragedy, are liste d missing.

Police will continue to search through the rubble at the epicenter of the explosio n. It is likely the death toll will increase.