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LODI,
Calif. -- Crystal deodorizer created a hazmat scare Tuesday at a legal
marijuana growing operation in Lodi.
Neighbors
complained of a strong odor, and the owner of a storage facility on Auto
Center Drive called police.
They
found clear plastic bowls containing what appeared to be crystal
methamphetamine, but it was deodorizer.
Storage facility owner Tim Katzakian had no
idea.
"We started getting people
saying we are smelling stuff, and that kind of tipped us off. And we
called police, and they went up and checked," he said.
Officers came with a search warrant and found about 50
marijuana plants. However, Darren Dean and his father rented the
locker.
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SALEM, ore. -- An Oregon State Inmate is likely
to face a disciplinary hearing after a powdery substance was discovered
in an outgoing envelope by mail room workers.
The Oregon Department of Corrections says they
determined Tuesday that a peppery substance was Thai Flavor Top Ramen
powder.
The powder caused
respiratory reaction in mail room workers =E2=80=93 but no injury. State
Penitentiary workers were tended to and the mail room was checked out by
a hazardous materials team.
The
Oregon State Penitentiary rules clearly state that inmates are not
allowed to send any foreign substance through the mail, so any inmate
found responsible by investigators will face misconduct charges and a
disciplinary hearing.
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A small ammonia leak caused the Zero Mountain Cold
Storage facility in Lowell to be evacuated Tuesday
afternoon.
The Rogers and Lowell Fire Departments, as well as a
Hazmat crew were called to the leak at 515 N. Bloomington St. around 1
p.m. According to an official with the company, a maintenance man was
using a forklift and accidentally hit an ammonia line in the engine
room. Liquid ammonia gushed out, all over the floor. The ammonia leaked
out to the ventilation system.
The fire department thought
about sending out a reverse 911 cal to homes and businesses in the area
warning them about the leak, but decided there wasn't enough ammonia to
pose a real health risk.
"Typically speaking, in an area that's as wide open as
this space is here, once it escapes, it disperses into the air and isn't
harmful at all," said Michael Dean with the RFD. "It's those confined
spaces that we're concerned about most, so of course, it was the
employees inside the plant that we were most concerned
about."
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FORT
ATKINSON, Wis. -- Eight people were taken to a hospital after a chemical
spill inside a plant on the south side of Fort Atkinson on Tuesday
morning.
Capt. Mark Schoenleber of the Fort Atkinson Fire
Department said the call came in just after 5 a.m. on
Tuesday.
Schoenleber said a valve broke on a 330-gallon
container of a chemical containing phosphoric acid inside a Spacesaver
plant on Janesville Avenue in Fort Atkinson. That caused the chemical to
spill out onto the plant floor.
The plant was evacuated and
firefighters called into the Jefferson County hazmat team to clean up
the spill. They shut off the valve and power to the
building.
"The actual chemical that was spilled had a less than
10 percent acid in it and was not very dangerous to the health of
people, but initially we didn't know that," said Capt. Tom Gerondale, of
the Fort Atkinson Fire Department.
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A man has
been taken to hospital after suffering chemical poisoning at an
industrial site in Hampshire.
Firefighters were called to a "hazardous material
incident" in Daneshill, Basingstoke.
A 46-year-old man suffered
cadmium cyanide poisoning, a Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service
spokesperson said.
They said no action was required by fire crews as
there was no external leak. The Health and Safety Executive has been
informed.
-----------------------
Northeastern University said today it is launching a review
of its protocols for handling hazardous materials in the wake of the
suspected suicide by cyanide of a researcher found dead yesterday in her
Milford home.
Emily Staupe, 30, a Northeastern reseacher, graduate
student and member of the Class of 2005, was found in her bedroom, where
authorities located a bag of material labeled cyanide, said Milford
police Chief Thomas J. O=E2=80=99Loughlin.
Police
are probing whether Staupe smuggled the cyanide from
Northeastern.
"Although the University has protocols
surrounding the use of hazardous materials, I am calling for an
extensive review of these protocols following Emily=E2=80=99s death,=E2=80
=9D Northeastern President Joseph E. Aoun said in a statement. "A
review is both wise and appropriate at this time.="
Aoun said
he asked Melvin Bernstein, the university=E2=80=99s vice provost for
research and a former Department of Homeland Security official, to
conduct the review.
-----------------------
Police and a hazardous materials crew sectioned off
the parking lot of St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Belleville for a couple
of hours Monday night.
A family
drove to the medical center because they thought their infant was
reacting to something hazardous in the car, according to O'Fallon Police
Detective Eric H. Andrews.
Earlier
Monday night, the family told police their vehicle was burglarized in
the parking lot of Sam's Club in O'Fallon.
After the
family reported the incident, they noticed the child was not as
responsive and an unidentified substance or odor in the
car.
The family drove directly to
the hospital, where medics examined and cleared the baby of any
injury.
Evidence was collected from
the family's car, but officials did not immediately find any hazardous
substance. Tests will be done on the evidence
collected.
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LAUDERDALE-BY-THE-SEA (CBS4) =E2=80=95 This 55-gallon drum
washed ashore on the beach in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea on Monday,
The drum
was discovered shortly after 9:00 a.m. at 4250 El Mar Drive.
Unaware
of whether anything inside the 55-gallon drum was dangerous, the HazMat
team was called to investigate and determined no radioactive or
dangerous substances were inside.
The drum
had been compromised and contained sea water. The beach was closed for
500 yards in both directions.
-----------------------
WEST SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. - A semi carrying 3,000
pounds of caustic sodium hydroxide rolled over on Interstate
90 west of Spokane early Monday morning, completely shutting down
I-90 eastbound and forcing drivers onto a detour around the
wreck.
The sodium hydroxide did not
leak. It was contained inside of barrels in the semi's two
trailers.
The male driver was trapped,
but fire department crews were able to cut him out of the cab. An
ambulance took the driver to Sacred Heart Medical Center. The
extent of his injuries are unknown, but they were not life
threatening.
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Firefighters responded to a chemical fire at the Hexion
Specialty Chemicals plant in Roebuck early this morning, but no injuries
were reported and no evacuations were deemed necessary.
A plant employee discovered smoke in a storage
building just before 4 a.m. and called firefighters. A handful of
departments responded to the fire, which was in one building of the huge
complex, said Doug Bryson, coordinator of Spartanburg County's Office of
Emergency Management.
"Several dozen different chemicals are stored
in that location, some hazardous and some not,=" Bryson
said.
After the fire was extinguished, people in full
hazardous materials suits inspected the area and determined the affected
chemicals were hydrogen peroxide and ammonium persulfide =E2=80=93
neither of which was deemed to be a risk to the surrounding community,
Bryson said.
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According to Dan Moon with the Berkeley County
Sheriff's department, a truck carrying highly explosive material
overturned. Material spilled from the truck.
He says
even a little spark can cause a major explosion. So they have evacuated
homes and businesses along the road and in the area.
There are
numerous officials on the scene,
including =EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BFo=EF=BB=BFf=EF
=BB=BFf=EF=BB=BFi=EF=BB=BFc=EF=BB=BFi=EF=BB=BFa=EF=BB=BFl=EF=BB=BFs=EF=BB=BF
=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF
=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB
=BF=EF=BB=BFf=EF=BB=BFr=EF=BB=BFo=EF=BB=BFm=EF=BB=BF =EF=BB=BFt=EF=BB=BFh=EF
=BB=BFe=EF=BB=BF =EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BFN=EF=BB=BFa=EF=BB=BFv=EF=BB=BFa=EF=BB=BF
=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BFl=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF =EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF
weapon statio=EF=BB=BFn, coast g=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB
=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BFuard, Berkeley =EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF=BB=BF=EF
=BB=BFCounty EMS and three fire departments
-----------------------
One
person was injured in the blast after a 65-litre cylinder holding
ammonia exploded at chemical company A-Gas in Laverton North shortly
before 9am.
An Ambulance Victoria spokesman said the man, in his
50s, suffered burning in the throat and nose after inhaling
gas.
He was treated at the scene and taken to the Western
Hospital.
A police spokesperson said about 30 people were forced
to flee the Oxford Rd plant.
MFB communications controller Heather Stockton said
firefighters arrived to discover an ammonia cylinder had
leaked.
"We now have concerns for another. We are down
there monitoring the situation,'' she said.
Firefighters have donned breathing
apparatus.
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