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From: DCHAS Secretary <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (10 articles)
Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2017 07:42:53 -0400
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: 0965BE99-D1D1-4F9D-B1C2-263E4E09E0F4**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, April 17, 2017 at 7:42:37 AM
A membership benefit of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
All article summaries and tags are archived at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas
Table of Contents (10 articles)
DRONE TECHNOLOGY ASSISTS CORAL SPRINGS FIREFIGHTERS IN STORE BLAZE
Tags: us_FL, public, explosion, response, unknown_chemical
VIETNAMESE LEADER HALTS WORK ON STEEL PLANT OVER THREAT OF CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: Viet_Nam, industrial, follow-up, environmental, waste
EXPERT: CHEMICAL CHANGE LIKELY CONTRIBUTED TO LEAD IN WATER
Tags: us_IL, public, release, environmental, lead
UVM STUDY: LAKE CHAMPLAIN IS SALTIER
Tags: us_VT, public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
AMMONIA SPILL IN ST. JOHN'S SEES RESPONSE FROM HAZMAT TEAM OVERNIGHT
Tags: Canada, industrial, release, response, ammonia
UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO STUDENTS RECOVERING AFTER ROCKET FUEL EXPLOSION
Tags: us_ID, laboratory, explosion, injury, metals
CHEMICAL SPILL CLEARS REDMOND HS SCIENCE LAB
Tags: us_OR, laboratory, release, response, ag_chems
BUILDING FIRE AT A CHEMICAL PLANT IN RICE COUNTY
Tags: us_KS, industrial, fire, response, ethanol
HAZMAT CREWS CLEAR SCENE, DOWNTOWN BALTIMORE UPS REOPENS AFTER ASSESSMENT
Tags: us_MD, public, explosion, response, other_chemical
HUNDREDS EVACUATED AT PUBLIX WAREHOUSE DUE TO AMMONIA LEAK
Tags: us_FL, industrial, release, response, ammonia
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DRONE TECHNOLOGY ASSISTS CORAL SPRINGS FIREFIGHTERS IN STORE BLAZE
Tags: us_FL, public, explosion, response, unknown_chemical
Chasity Palumbaro was shopping for Easter with her relatives at the Dollar Tree store when she heard loud banging. Her first thought was someone smashed a car into a wall, but when she looked she saw flames.
Someone told her a fire had erupted in the chemical area of the store and there was an explosion. Running to safety, they called police.
According to Fire Division Chief Mike Moser, around 12:30 p.m. they received the 911 call from people in the Dollar Tree at 11530 W Sample Road stating something was on fire in the aisle of the store. When units arrived, they found very heavy smoke coming out of the store. With the darkened interior, firefighters were not able to see the fire right away until they made entry. Moser said the Coral Springs Fire Department used drone technology with a heat-seeking camera to help locate the fire. The drone helped locate a hot spot on the roof that they were not able to see with the naked eye.
Drone technology used in fire helped detect hot spot on roof.
Moser said this particular store was a bit more complicated, not because of the type of store it was, but because they didn‰??t know the full extent of what was for sale inside.
‰??There could be automotive parts inside, cleaning fluids, chemicals that we don‰??t know about. A retail store like this is always dangerous because we don‰??t really necessarily know what‰??s being stored in there.‰??
---------------------------------------------
VIETNAMESE LEADER HALTS WORK ON STEEL PLANT OVER THREAT OF CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: Viet_Nam, industrial, follow-up, environmental, waste
Vietnam‰??s prime minister halted work on a $10.6 billion steel plant on Sunday over environmental concerns, aiming to prevent a chemical spill like the one last year at another steel plant, the local news media reported, citing a government statement.
The steel maker Hoa Sen Group, the plant‰??s investor, was not immediately available for comment. The company announced plans last year for the project, a complex of more than 4,200 acres that could produce millions of tons of steel a year.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, saying he did not want another ‰??Formosa incident,‰?? asked related parties to clarify market demand and environmental impact, the website of the state-run Vietnam Television said.
Early last year, a steel plant run by the Taiwanese company Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation was the site of one of Vietnam‰??s worst environmental disasters. A toxic waste spill killed tons of fish and devastated fishing communities along Vietnam‰??s central coast.
---------------------------------------------
EXPERT: CHEMICAL CHANGE LIKELY CONTRIBUTED TO LEAD IN WATER
Tags: us_IL, public, release, environmental, lead
More than a year before the U.S. EPA found dangerous lead levels in drinking water at 18 East Chicago homes, the city began using a chemical to control corrosion of lead pipes approved by IDEM but not recommended by experts, because it actually can increase lead release.
In a city where up to 90 percent of water lines could contain lead, using sodium hexametaphosphate might have been worse than conducting no corrosion control at all, said Marc Edwards, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech.
Edwards, who co-wrote a 2002 study concluding ‰??hexametaphosphate tends to increase the release of soluble and particulate lead in drinking water,‰?? said he would never recommend the chemical for corrosion control in a city with lead pipes.
Exposure to lead poses serious health risks, particularly to young children and fetuses. Even at low doses, it can cause irreversible learning disabilities and health problems.
Edwards said the city's corrosion control plan before the switch to sodium hexametaphosphate also was inadequate. And a new chemical introduced after use of sodium hexametaphosphate and recent increases in its dose still may not be enough to protect East Chicago residents, particularly children, from high levels of lead in their water, he said.
---------------------------------------------
UVM STUDY: LAKE CHAMPLAIN IS SALTIER
Tags: us_VT, public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
ake Champlain is growing increasingly salty, and researchers say winter snow maintenance is the likely culprit, according to a new study published April 10.
Salt in the lake can promote the spread of blue-green algae, according to scientists.
The current salinity level of Lake Champlain isn‰??t high enough to harm aquatic life, or high enough for humans to taste, scientists say.
Lake Champlain is one of two of the 20 Vermont lakes in the study that are experiencing increasing salinity, and that trend worries some researchers, said Mindy Morales-Williams, a scientist with the Rubenstein Ecosystem Science Laboratory. Morales-Williams will begin teaching as an assistant professor at the University of Vermont in August.
‰??I think the concern is the increasing trend, and the potential for it to continue to rise,‰?? she said. ‰??It‰??s currently not at the level [in Lake Champlain] where it would hurt aquatic life ‰?| but the problem with salt is that it‰??s really hard to remove from water, and it‰??s really hard to remove from soil.
‰??Even if you stop salt application ‰?| it continues to leach‰?? from soil, Morales-Williams said.
---------------------------------------------
AMMONIA SPILL IN ST. JOHN'S SEES RESPONSE FROM HAZMAT TEAM OVERNIGHT
Tags: Canada, industrial, release, response, ammonia
The leak occurred at the Scotsburn Dairy building on Lemarchant Road and was discovered about 2 a.m. by building custodians who immediately reported it to the fire department. When firefighters arrived on scene, it was determined that the department‰??s HAZMAT team would be needed to deal with the incident. Platoon chief Robert Fowler said the firefighters donned encapsulated hazmat suits and entered the building to investigate. They soon discovered that a 100-pound tank of a refrigerant, anhydrous ammonia, had ruptured and spilled its contents and that fumes from the chemical had spread throughout the former dairy processing facility. The HAZMAT members then walked through the facility opening entrance and delivery doors to ventilate the fumes. Fowler said contractors were in the process of removing the refrigerant chemical from the recently closed facility and had it stored in containers inside the building. He added that there were eleven more of the containers inside but!
that all of them were secure. The incident has now been resolved and emergency officials have left the scene. There were no injuries.
---------------------------------------------
UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO STUDENTS RECOVERING AFTER ROCKET FUEL EXPLOSION
Tags: us_ID, laboratory, explosion, injury, metals
University of Idaho officials say four students were injured in an explosion late Thursday while testing experimental rocket fuel in a parking lot on campus.
The students, all members of a student club called the Northwest Organization of Rocket Engineers, underwent surgery at Gritman Medical Center in Moscow and were recovering there Friday morning.
One student was initially listed in critical condition, but a hospital spokesman said Friday afternoon that all four students were in good condition and one had been released. The victims‰?? parents have been notified.
The hospital spokesman said the students did not want their names released, although reports indicate two are leaders of the student club. Officials said three of them study engineering.
The explosion happened just before 10 p.m. on the east side of the steam plant that generates power for the campus, Daniel Ewart, UI‰??s vice president for infrastructure, said at a news conference.
Initial reports indicated the club was testing a rocket, but Ewart clarified Friday morning that the device was not intended to be launched. He described it as a galvanized metal pipe about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and 8 inches to 12 inches long that contained fuel.
‰??The intention of the experiment was not to launch a projectile up into the air. It was to test rocket fuel, the way it burns and things like that,‰?? he said. ‰??The device was placed on a wooden pallet, and in the process of the explosion the pallet was destroyed.‰??
Ewart said a faculty adviser was present when the explosion happened. He said the club is recognized by the university but wouldn‰??t say if the fuel test had received proper approval.
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL SPILL CLEARS REDMOND HS SCIENCE LAB
Tags: us_OR, laboratory, release, response, ag_chems
A chemical spill in a storage closet at Redmond High School on Friday prompted evacuation and sealing of the classroom and sent two teachers to a hospital for evaluation, officials said
Firefighters responded shortly before noon to the science lab at the school at 675 SW Rimrock Way, Battalion Chief Jeff Puller said.
They found potassium chloride had spilled in a storage closet, to the classroom was evacuated and sealed. Firefighters then contained the chemical in a protective container until it could be removed by a hazardous materials clean-up response company, Puller said.
While two teachers went to the hospital by private vehicle for evaluation, no students or firefighters were injured, the battalion chief said.
Potassium chloride is a metal halide salt that is odorless and has a white or colorless crystal appearance, dissolving readily in water. It is used as a fertilizer, as well as in medicine, scientific applications and food processing.
Fire Marshal Traci Cooper explained that they acted cautiously because the chemical‰??s original container leaked and they wanted to be sure it hadn‰??t come in contact with other chemicals, worsening the issue.
---------------------------------------------
BUILDING FIRE AT A CHEMICAL PLANT IN RICE COUNTY
Tags: us_KS, industrial, fire, response, ethanol
LYONS, Kan. (KNSS) - Around 9 a.m. Thursday a fire broke out at the Jacam Chemical facility in Rice County between Sterling and Lyons.
Rice County Fire Crews arrived at the fire, but had many problems to deal with. Rice County Emergency Director Greg Klein said fire crews were not able to use water to fight the fire.
"We want to be cautious when applying water to chemicals because it could actually make the spill or chemical release larger," said Klein.
The building was allowed to burn, hazmat crews from Hutchinson and Sedgwick County were on hand monitoring the air quality. All employees inside made it out safely. Officials also evacuated the nearby Kansas Ethanol plant.
---------------------------------------------
HAZMAT CREWS CLEAR SCENE, DOWNTOWN BALTIMORE UPS REOPENS AFTER ASSESSMENT
Tags: us_MD, public, explosion, response, other_chemical
BALTIMORE (WBFF) ‰?? UPDATE | A professor who "tried to mail non-hazardous bacteria" at a UPS store prompted a hazmat response in downtown Baltimore Thursday after a thermos in his package exploded due to a "mix between dry and regular ice," confirmed city fire officials shortly before 9 p.m.
As a precaution, hazmat team members and Baltimore Police's Bomb Squad were called to the UPS store in downtown Baltimore early Friday evening to assess a package. The all-clear has since been given and no injuries were reported, Fire Department officials confirmed.
Drivers were being asked to avoid the area around Lombard St. and South St. while first responders remained on scene investigating, according to a spokesperson with the City‰??s Fire Department. Around 5:20 p.m. hazmat crews were called to the UPS after someone dropped off a package that had a Thermos inside. The top of the Thermos exploded so hazmat was requested to assess the contents inside. No foul play was suspected but the driver was requested to return to the scene to explain the situation.
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HUNDREDS EVACUATED AT PUBLIX WAREHOUSE DUE TO AMMONIA LEAK
Tags: us_FL, industrial, release, response, ammonia
DEERFIELD BEACH (CBSMiami) ‰?? An ammonia leak at a Deerfield Beach warehouse had hazmat teams quite busy Friday afternoon.
The leak was detected just after noon at the Publix warehouse near S.W. 7th Street and 12th Avenue.
It forced hundreds to be evacuated.
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