Links to details available at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas<
/div>
A Traverse City hazmat team when on a smelly scavenger
hunt Thursday morning, trying to track down a stench making people sick
on a public bus.
The odor was described as a strong chemical smell. Two
passengers reported that it was irritating their eyes and making them
feel dizzy.
When the bus driver smelled the odor, she pulled over
and immediately got everyone off the bus.
It
happened around 9:30 Thursday morning at the BATA Transit Center in
Traverse City.
The hazmat team arrived a few minutes later to try and
track down the source of the smell. The team evacuated the area as a
precaution and then concentrated their search on two
backpacks.
The only thing they discovered was a small amount of
marijuana in one of the bags.
"We do not know at this time what odor caused that eye
irritation, if it was the marijuana smell in the bag or if it was a
combination of marijuana and perfume, we=E2=80=99re not clear," says
Captain Brian Heffner with the Traverse City Police Department. "But we
do know there was no hazardous materials on that bus."
The two
passengers that felt dizzy were checked out at the scene and
released.
-----------------------
LEXINGTON, SC (WIS) =E2=80=93 An apartment building in
Lexington was evacuated early Thursday morning after the discovery of a
meth lab.
Lexington police responded to the Churchwood
Apartments on Old Chapin Road just after 6am to reports of a strange
odor. Police found suspects in the process of "cooking" the meth in one
of the apartments.
The apartment building was evacuated after officials
confirmed it was a meth lab. Residents were displaced for about four
hours.
Police have arrested two people in connection with the
meth lab.
Lexington Sheriff's Department, HAZMAT and Lexington
Emergency Management Services also responded.
-----------------------
Berlin firefighters responded to a chlorine leak at
Assateague State Park Tuesday morning. The Special Hazards
Response Team was also on the scene after a 150 pound chlorine cylinder,
which is used for water treatment, was found to be leaking at the
valve. The Hazmat crew was able to stop the leak and no injuries
were reported.
-----------------------
Southbound Randall Road was closed for five hours early
Friday following a traffic accident that resulted in hazardous material
spilling onto the street, Elgin police said.
A
Carpentersville truck driver was cited for his part in the
single-vehicle accident that resulted in no injuries, authorities
said.
At 12:30 a.m., a truck from R+L Carriers was turning
onto Randall Road at South Street when one of its two semitrailers
flipped over, police said.
At least two gallons of a corrosive liquid known as
UN1760 leaked onto the street from the rear semitrailer, authorities
said.
Police closed Randall Road while hazardous material
teams from the Elgin and South Elgin fire departments secured the scene
and kept the substance from flowing into the water system, authorities
said.
-----------------------
US officials did not authorise use of a chemical
mixture that killed a British government scientist in an explosives
accident, an inquest has heard.
Terry Jupp, 46, suffered
massive burns on a testing range at Shoeburyness, Essex, in August
2002.
He was part of a British-American team investigating
homemade bombs that could be used in terrorism.
The
inquest was also told of American concern that the British were not
sticking to planned experiments.
The inquest heard that the
American official who commissioned the research had not given permission
for Mr Jupp's experiment.
Mr Jupp died after a 10kg mixture of three undisclosed
substances caught alight. He died from his injuries six days
later.
-----------------------
I-49 Northbound has been shut down from Pont de Mouton
to Gloria Switch Road.
A truck carrying a mixture of flammable liquids
flipped at around 11-AM Wednesday morning, leaking its cargo onto
Frontage road.
State Police, Lafayette Sheriffs Depuites and
Lafayette Police have I-49 blocked-off as Lafayette firefighters inspect
and clean-up the spill.
-----------------------
Three
people were hospitalized after they were exposed to a potentially
dangerous gas Wednesday morning at a scrap yard on Amarillo
Boulevard.
Amarillo Fire Department
Chief Steve Ross saidm that at about 11:15 a.m., workers at W. Silver
Recycling Inc., 3320 E. Amarillo Blvd., ruptured a tank, releasing a gas
that "caused some people some discomfort."
Investigators said an employee was operating a machine that
cuts scrap metal into smaller pieces. The worker cut into a cylinder and
a vapor cloud was released, investigators said. The cloud spread across
the metal-strewn work yard.
Three workers in the yard suffered difficulty
breathing and were treated at the scene, Ross said. The vapor had
dissipated when emergency crews arrived.
"It
released and is gone," Ross said shortly before noon.
The
unidentified workers were hosed down by firefighters and transported to
a hospital for observation.
Ross said victims told firefighters they believed
anhydrous ammonia was released.
-----------------------
One
person has been taken to hospital after a chemical spillage at a care
home in Nottinghamshire.
Firefighters were called to the Clumber Court care
home on Bolham Lane, Retford, after five litres (one gallon) of hydrogen
peroxide was spilt.
The injured person suffered burned hands in the
incident, which took place at about 1130 BST. Firefighters have now
cleared up the spillage.
Residents were moved to another part of the home
during the clean up.
-----------------------
ELYRIA =E2=80=94 Heat and humid ity are believed to
have con tributed to a large chemical fire Tuesday afternoon in an
outdoor skimming pond at United Initiators, 555 Garden St., the same
site where a massive explosion occurred in 1993, when the facility was
operated by Aztec Cata lysts.
The blaze Tuesday, involving organic per oxides,
ignited in the pond with a "big boom=" at 1:50 p.m.,
startling Mark Yeaples, who was working on a garbage truck at the Elyria
Central Maintenance facility nearby.
"I looked over, and
flames were shooting 100 feet in the air,=" Yeaples said. "
You could smell the burning toxins.="
No one
was injured, said United Initiators general manager Paul Caldwell. About
30 of the company=E2=80=99s nearly 60 employees were working when the
fire started.
-----------------------
GREEN
RIVER, Wyo. (AP) =E2=80=95 A fire at the General Chemical Corp. mining
facility in southwest Wyoming has interrupted part of its
operations.
The fire was reported about 10:30 a.m.
Tuesday.
Plant manager Randy Pitts says the Green River Fire
Department, with help from two other soda ash companies, extinguished
the fire after about 90 minutes with no injuries
reported.
Pitts said a portion of the facility's mining
operations had been shut down until repairs can be
completed.
-----------------------
Firefighters are tackling an explosion at BCB
Environmental Waste Services on Marston Moor Business Park in
Tockwith.
Police are advising motorists to keep their windows up
as they drive between J46 at Wetherby and J47 on the
A1.
Traffic is believed to be 'coping well'. There are
also reports of smoke blowing across the road on A64 between the A659
and Colton Lane.
According to the York Press, villagers have been
evacuated and nearby residents have been told to keep their windows
closed.
It's believed a plume of black smoke is headed towards
York.
-----------------------
BOULDER
COUNTY, Colo. -- Boulder County authorities issued a warning Wednesday
about individuals throwing homemade chemical bombs from moving
vehicles.
An exploded plastic bottle
was found Wednesday morning in the 7800 block of Durham Way in the
Heatherwood subdivision, Boulder County sheriff's officials
said.
A resident reported hearing
an explosion Monday at about 11:30 p.m., but did not see anyone or
anything suspicious at that time, sheriff's officials
said.
Wednesday morning, the
resident found a plastic bottle that appeared to have been ruptured by
an explosion, sheriff's officials said. Deputies searched the
subdivision but did not find any other explosive
devices.
On the night of July 1, two
people reported that someone tossed a plastic bottle from the window of
a black Chevrolet pickup traveling through a Niwot neighborhood,
sheriff's officials said.
When one
of the witnesses kicked the bottle, it exploded, sheriff's officials
said. No one was injured.
Investigators found that bottle contained chemicals that when
mixed, created "an explosion that can cause bodily injury if the person
is nearby," sheriffs officials said.
-----------------------
ELYRIA
=E2=80=94 Several Garden Street residents said they were feeling sick
after the fire at United Initiators plant yesterday
afternoon.
Daniel Oquendo, 20, said officials told him to stay
inside his Garden Street apartment, which is less than a half mile from
the plant, and to make sure all the windows and doors were shut. Despite
the precautionary measures, Oquendo said his eyes were burning and his
throat was sore. The pain lasted for about 30 minutes, he
said.
Oquendo said he saw flames taller than many of the
nearby trees =E2=80=94 at least 30 feet high =E2=80=94 and neighbor
Joshua Rodriguez, 30, said the sky was pitch black from the
smoke.
Nanette Bennington, 35, said she=E2=80=99s had to
leave home before because of problems at the plant.
"We
expected to be evacuated again, like we had to before, but we just
heard it was organic peroxide and to stay inside,=" said
Bennington, who was sitting in front of an apartment on the 1000 block
of Garden Street.
-----------------------
The two
Jackson women charged after a meth lab explosion left one man dead last
month told investigators they tried to treat his burns with butter and
gave him pain medication before calling EMS more than 12 hours later,
according to statements given in court Tuesday.
Kimberly
Strickland, 38, and Robin Grooms, 30, appeared in Madison County General
Sessions Court Tuesday afternoon for a preliminary hearing. The women
are each being held on a $50,000 bond.
They are
charged with accessory after the fact to manufacturing methamphetamine
and tampering with evidence in the July 18 incident in north Jackson
that left 43-year-old Jeffrey Shane Stewart dead. Their cases were bound
over to a grand jury after the hearing.
-----------------------
SAN JOSE, CA -- Firefighters
responded to a possible hazardous materials incident near San Jose State
University today, a fire department spokesman said.
The
incident was reported at 10:38 a.m. at the Campus Village parking
garage, located at 355 S. 10th St., near a 10-story student housing
apartment complex, Capt. Chuck Rangel said.
An alarm
went off in a room containing a chlorine pump on the first level of the
garage, Rangel said. A pump that pushes chlorine to the fountain
malfunctioned, causing a strong odor and activating the alarm, Rangel
said.
The garage was evacuated and occupants of the
apartment complex were ordered to shelter-in-place as a safety measure,
Rangel said.
One person was treated at the scene for watery
eyes.
-----------------------
NORTH SPRINGFIELD =E2=80=94 Police say someone
deliberately spilled more than 1,200 gallons of diesel fuel from the
pumps at Black River Produce Sunday morning, letting the fuel reach the
nearby Black River through a storm drain.
Springfield Police Officer Anthony Leonard said Monday that
the incident was under investigation, but he declined to say whether
police already has a suspect.
Leonard said the two hoses from the diesel pump were
left in such a way as to immediately raise questions about the incident,
and Leonard said it all but eliminated any thought the incident was an
accident.
"I think this was an intentional and malicious
act by someone,=" said Stephen Birge, co-owner of the firm. "
It wasn=E2=80=99t an accident. Someone turned on the pumps and let them
run.="
Birge said he had no idea of anyone who had a grudge
against the company, saying it had been "months and months="
since someone had lost their job there.
-----------------------
A morning
pool maintenance project turned into an explosion in a residential
Rockingham neighborhood Tuesday.
Two were injured in a blast
ignited by a mixture of chlorine at a home in the 1000 block of
Morningside Drive. He son, Rodney Godwin, said his father was mixing
chlorine with water.
Neighbors
said the initial, powerful blast was followed by two smaller explosions.
Two helicopters were dispatched for the injured and landed at
FirstHealth Richmond Memorial=E2=80=99s landing pad.
-----------------------
The the north side of the Port of Brownsville was
evacuated Monday as fire crews spent more than a hour battling a large
fire in two 19-foot fuel storage tanks that contained fatty acid,
Brownsville Fire Chief Lenny Perez said.
Tankers
and cargo trucks lined the side of Highway 48 as they waited for fire
crews to finish their investigation. No injuries were
reported.
Port spokesman Manuel Ortiz, said the fire began at
approximately 11 a.m. at the RTW Terminal, located off Chemical Road.
RTW Terminals is a liquid bulk storage facility.
More than
100 employees from various companies were evacuated as a safety
precaution while port police, firefighters and U.S. Coast Guard
responded to the fire. Authorities also implemented a one-mile safety
zone, keeping all incoming vessels out in the water until the fire was
contained.
-----------------------
ELYRIA =E2=80=94 Firefighters appear to have under
control a fire that broke out today at 555 Garden St., the same location
that was the site of a massive explosion in 1993. The company listed at
that address is United Initiators LLC.
The blaze
involves organic peroxides, according to scanner traffic from
firefighters on the scene.
A heavy black cloud hung over that portion of Elyria
for about half an hour, but the cloud =E2=80=94 which witnesses reported
seeing as far away as North Olmsted =E2=80=94 is dissipating, according
to those on the scene. A fire truck continues to spray the building with
water.
-----------------------
A University of Iowa staff member who loaded balloons
filled with hydrogen and a hydrogen-oxygen mix into a vehicle was
injured Tuesday when the balloons apparently exploded.
According
to the University of Iowa Police Department, Dale Stille filled eight
balloons =E2=80=93 four with hydrogen and four with a hydrogen/oxygen
mix =E2=80=93 and placed them into a Ford Explorer owned by the
university. The vehicle was parked near the loading dock of Van Allen
Hall.
Police said when Stille opened a side door, there was
an explosion. He was originally taken to Mercy Hospital via private
vehicle for injuries, which police said could be first- and
second-degree burns. He was later transported to the University of Iowa
Hospitals and Clinics=E2=80=99 burn unit.
The cause
of the explosion, believed to have occurred about 7:30 a.m., was not
immediately explained.
The blast was not immediately reported to police, who
responded to the scene at 8:21 a.m. after a passerby saw the vehicle and
damaged caused by the explosion =E2=80=93 which included a shattered
windshield =E2=80=93 and suspected a break-in occurred.
Police
said witnesses told them Stille had intended to take the balloons to an
off-campus location for an educational activity.
Stille is
a coordinator for Hawk-Eyes on Science, an outreach program affiliated
with the department of physics and astronomy. Stille puts on programs
for school children doing scientific demonstrations, including exploding
balloons filled with hydrogen and oxygen.
Bruce
McAvoy, the university=E2=80=99s Fire Safety Coordinator, the Iowa City
Fire Department and the State Fire Marshal=E2=80=99s office assisted in
investigating the explosion.
-----------------------
