SURREY - A Surrey man was arrested after running away from what police believe was a crystal meth lab that caught fire inside a house in the 14700-block of 79 Avenue on Friday afternoon.

Surrey RCMP Cpl. Drew Grainger said a hazardous materials (Hazmat) team found chemicals typically associated with clandestine drug labs and that they are being analyzed in a lab.

"It certainly did have the earmarks of a crystal methamphetamine operation," he said.

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CLEAN UP OPERATION UNDERWAY AFTER CHEMICAL FIRE

Tags: New_Zealand, transportation, fire, response, unknown_chemical

A cleanup operation is underway at the site of a chemical fire at a freight company in Christchurch last night.

Assistant area fire commander Dave Burford says the fire which started in a fully loaded truck, wasn't serious but the chemicals started to run off and flow down the road.

He says the substances that leaked were retrieved by the hazardous chemicals unit overnight.

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DOZENS OF WORKERS EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL LEAK AT BUSINESS

Tags: us_OH, industrial, release, response, acetylene

FRANKLIN =97 It=92s back to business as usual for five companies evacuated Monday morning following a leaking tank of Acetylene gas at Nation Coating Systems.

Around 11:11 a.m. Monday, Franklin fire officials and one member from the Greater Cincinnati Hazardous Materials team responded to the company at 501 Shotwell Drive for a leaking tank full of Acetylene =97 a fuel used for welding, said Capt. Tony Abston said.

Nation Coating Systems is a supplier of thermal spray coaling for industrial application, according to its website.

Abston said about 50 employees were evacuated from various businesses in the industrial park =97 Nation Coating Systems, M&S Flooring, Caring Partners International, Waytek, Inc. and Olivamed. The workers were relocated to a vacant building nearby until about 1:30 p.m.

Abston said employees of NCS were attempting to unscrew the tank=92s lid with a wrench when the liquid started spewing out.

=93It=92s very explosive,=94 Abston said. =93(Acetylene) chemical is heavier than air and it dissipated.=94

Power to the building was shut off by 11:30 a.m. before any officials entered it, Abston said. He added the tank was moved outside and the building=92s doors left open to ventilate. No one was injured.

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CHEMICAL SPILL AT PICTON RAILYARD

Tags:New_Zealand, transportation, release, response, hydrochloric_acid

Fire brigades from Picton, Blenheim and Nelson attended a chemical spill in a shipping container at the Picton Railyard this morning.

Picton Volunteer Fire Brigade station officer Steve McKeown said the shipping container was carrying 12 1000 litre containers of hydrochloric acid, acetic acid and another chemical used for cleaning dairy equipment.

One of the 1000 litre containers of hydrochloric acid developed a leak through its top and lost about 10 litres of the chemical.

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TOXIC SPILLS MORE LIKELY ON ROADS THAN RAILS, STUDY FINDS

Tags: us_PA, transportation, release, response, follow-up

A hazardous chemical accident in Westmoreland County is more likely to occur on a highway than on a rail line, according to a recent study of shipments on major highways.

A study commissioned this summer by the county's Department of Public Safety found that none of the 88 railroad accidents in the county since 2001 involved hazardous materials.

Trucks routinely transport extremely dangerous, corrosive or flammable materials along Interstate 70 and routes 22, 66, 119, 981 and 30 and other major roadways, the consultants found.

In the past decade, 271 truck accidents involved hazardous materials, ranging from 35 in 2001 to 25 last year, the study showed.

Pennsylvania highways carried more than 200 million tons of hazardous materials by truck and rail in 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, which conducts a study every five years. More than half of the shipments, mostly flammable liquids and petroleum-based products, are made by truck.

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WORKER INJURED AS PROPANE LEAK FORCES EVACUATIONS AT PORT OF BROWNSVILLE

Tags: us_TX, industrial, release, injury, propane

A gas leak at a Port of Brownsville business Monday injured one worker, caused the evacuation of seven companies in the area and released about 57,000 gallons of propane gas into the air, officials said.

Emergency personnel =97 including Cameron County Emergency Management, a HazMat team and Brownsville firefighters and police =97 responded about 9 a.m. and worked to fix a valve leak in a propane storage tank at TransMontaigne, a company that transports and stores petroleum and chemical products.

...

The leak started in one propane tank, filled with 57,000 gallons, that connected with three others. The tanks hold about 90,000 gallons of gas each when full, he said.

Workers eventually were able to shut off the valve that connected the four tanks, so that only the one tank leaked its contents.

The injured worker was transported to the hospital after part of the valve struck him when it ruptured, Perez said. He said he did not have details on the man=92s condition, but he was coherent after the incident.

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POLICE AND FIRE REPORT

Tags: us_MD, industrial, release, injury, unknown_chemical

SALISBURY -- A worker involved in an industrial accident at a Perdue Farms facility off Zion Church Road near Salisbury underwent medical treatment Monday for a chemical burn, according to Maryland State Police in Salisbury.

It was unclear whether the victim was a Perdue employee or contract worker at the Zion Church Road plant, a spokesman at MSP said.

Maryland Occupational Safety and Health is investigating Monday's accident along with the MSP. The worker was treated at Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury. The worker's condition or other details about the accident were not available late Monday, the MSP spokesman said.

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BEER TANK EXPLODES AT OTTER CREEK

Tags: us_VT, industrial, explosion, response, unknown_chemical

A beer tank at Otter Creek Brewing exploded around 10 a.m. on Monday, according to Middlebury fire chief Rick Cole.

No one was hurt in the explosion of what Cole said was a large fermenting tank, but the incident brought emergency personnel rushing to the scene to ensure that the explosion of the pressurized tank did not cause further explosions.

Otter Creek president Brian Walsh said around 11 a.m. that a team from the company was on its way to assess the incident, but that the building was secure.

Cole said the explosion damaged piping and knocked over two or three other tanks, but that there was no fire and the beer that spilled was mostly contained within the building.

The explosion also blew a wall panel off of the side of the building between two outdoor tanks.

Cole said his crew spent a little over an hour on the scene stabilizing tanks and making sure that the scene was safe, and that employees had already re-entered the building by the time he left.

Walsh said he had no further comment until after the team he was sending had assessed the situation.

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DRUG OFFICERS DISPOSE OF TANKS FOR METH LABS

Tags: public, release, environmental, meth_lab, follow-up

Authorities must take extra precaution while disposing of meth lab components recovered at meth lab scenes due to the dangerous chemicals used to produce the drug.

That=92s why anhydrous ammonia, propane and sometimes oxygen tanks are removed from lab sites, stored and then disposed of safely in remote locations.

=93Basically each one of these is a lab,=94 said Franklin County Narcotics Enforcement Unit (FCNEU) Cpl. Scott Briggs as he loaded tanks onto a trailer to be hauled from a shooting range in Union.

The tanks were removed Thursday afternoon from the range that Union police officers use for target practice.

The tanks had been collected from meth labs within the county since August.

Union police officers shot at the tanks Wednesday from distances between 50-100 yards to limit exposure to chemicals, or injury from tanks that could explode.

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HAZMAT TEAM CALLED TO INVESTIGATE LEAKING CONTAINER IN REDONDO BEACH

Tags: us_CA, transportation, release, response, pesticides

The Torrance police and fire department, the Redondo Beach Fire Department, and the Torrance hazmat division were called to DSD Trucking at 2400 Marine Ave  earlier Friday afternoon after workers opened a damaged container and noticed an unpleasant smell.

Employees were unloading the container in preparation to reload it into a  truck when seven employees noticed an unpleasant smelling powder leaking from the shipment. They immediately alerted the fire department and evacuated the area.

=93We smelled it and got out right away,=94said Chris Viellea, an 11 year employee of DSD Trucking from L.A.=93The smell was really bad.=94

The shipping container is suspected to contain pesticides from overseas and was expected to be delivered to Arizona. According to the fire department, often times things are damaged in transit and spills of this nature are typical.

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OILFIELD EXPLORATION RIG CARRYING EXPLOSIVES CATCHES FIRE

Tags: us_CA, transportation, explosion, response, explosives

BUTTONWILLOW, Calif. -- An oilfield exploration rig that was carrying explosives caught fire Friday afternoon, shutting down part of Interstate 5.

Kern County firefighters and hazmat crews were sent out to the intersection of Interstate 5 and Tracy Avenue near Buttonwillow after reports of a fire.

Crews said that when they arrived, they heard an explosion and immediately secured the area.

The driver of the rig told officials that there were detonators and explosives inside the vehicle.

The rig was quickly extinguished and the roads were reopened about 3:20 p.m.

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KADI FIRE: 2 MORE SUCCUMB TO BURN INJURIES

Tags: India, industrial, fire, death, pharmaceutical

Two more labourers, caught in a fire in Kadi, succumbed to their injuries on Sunday. The two were injured following a fire in a pharmaceutical company near Kadi in Mehsana district. With two more death, the toll in the incident has touched seven. Five labourers were killed on Saturday in the massive fire.

According to Kadi police officials, of the four injured, Govind

Thakore, 25, a resident of Kadi died during medical treatment in Ahmedabad civil hospital. Ganeshji Thakore, 20, also succumbed to his injuries at Kalol civil hospital in the wee hours of Sunday.

On Saturday morning at 11 am a major fire broke out in a medicinal alcohol bottling unit of Kayvee Aeropharm Company in Kadi GIDC. The manufacturing and packing of the alcohol-based liquid, used by doctors as an antiseptic to clean wounds, was being done inside an air-tight room.

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TOSOH FALLS MOST IN 2 MONTHS AFTER PLANT CATCHES FIRE

Tags: Japan, industrial, fire, death, unknown_chemical

Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Tosoh Corp. fell the most in more than two months in Tokyo trading after a chemical plant operated by the company in Yamaguchi prefecture, western Japan, caught fire.

Tosoh slid as much as 7 percent, the biggest intraday loss since Sept. 6, and traded 4.4 percent lower at 219 yen as of 9:30 a.m. on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 1.5 percent.

A worker was found dead this morning at the factory, Tosoh President Kenichi Udagawa said today at a news conference in Tokyo. The fire at the plant is "almost extinguished," Yasuyuki Koie, a managing director at the chemical maker, said.

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TEXAS 80 REOPENS SIX HOURS AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL

Tags: us_TX, transportation, release, response, sodium_hydroxide

Traffic reopened on Texas 80 in San Marcos around 12:30 p.m. Friday after a chemical spill closed the road for six hours. One eastbound lane of Texas 80 remains closed as the clean up continues this afternoon.

A semi tractor trailer carrying sodium hydroxide or lye, a caustic material, dropped two containers off the trailer around 6:24 am today. Tne 330 gallon container spilled its contents. No one was injured.

Emergency responders, including the San Marcos fire and police departments and Hays-San Marcos EMS, were on scene to respond to the spill this morning

The truck was a part of a convoy for Mission Well Services of San Antonio traveling through San Marcos. Alamo 1, a hazardous materials company from San Antonio, is continuing the clean up.

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WORKER BURNED IN FIRE AT NUCLEAR RESEARCH LAB

Tags: us_ID, laboratory, fire, injury, radiation, sodium

(Reuters) - A sodium fire erupted on Friday at a U.S. Nuclear laboratory in Idaho, burning one worker, but the incident posed no risk to the public, the lab said.

The incident was the second this week at the sprawling facility. Earlier this week, at least six workers were contaminated by low-level plutonium radiation and 11 others were exposed following a mishap at the lab.

The chemical fire on Friday broke out in a building adjacent to a decommissioned, experimental reactor at the U.S. Department of Energy's sprawling Idaho National Laboratory that is cooled by sodium, lab spokeswoman Sara Prentice said.

The fire may have been caused by a sodium reaction, Prentice said.

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CROOK CO. CREWS LET CHEMICAL FIRE BURN OUT

Tags: us_OR, industrial, fire, response, zirconium

PRINEVILLE, Ore. -- A fire at a plant that mixes chemicals used for road anti-icer west of Prineville Thursday afternoon prompted a worker evacuation and the precautionary shutdown of a nearby road, authorities said Friday.

Crook County Fire and Rescue responded around 2:30 p.m. Thursday to the reported fire at the Prineville Freight Depot about four miles west of town, said Fire Marshal Casey Kump.

The call was reported as a zirconium fire at a magnesium chloride mixing plant at the freight depot, he said.

Fire crews arrived to find workers had evacuated from a byproduct waste disposal area, where about eight 55-gallon barrels were burning, Kump said.

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SEBASTOPOL MAN SUFFERS BURNS ON HANDS, FACE, ARMS, CHEST WHEN MOBILE HOME GOES UP IN FLAMES

Tags: us_CA, public, explosion, response, drugs

A 22-year-old man suffered severe burns when a Sebastopol-area mobile home in which he was staying exploded and went up in flames Saturday, authorities said.

The explosion is under investigation as being related to drug production, perhaps the manufacture of hash oil, in which volatile chemical solvents are used to separate potent resins from marijuana plant parts, Sonoma County Sheriff's Sgt. Vance Eaton said.

If true, it would be the second such incident within a week. On Tuesday night, suspected hash oil manufacturing sparked an explosion at a house on Santa Rosa's Morgan Street, prompting one arrest.

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