HAZMAT
SCARE LEAVES NEIGHBORHOOD ROPED OFF | NBC NEW YORK, http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-be
at/Hazmat-Scare-Leaves-Neighborhood-Roped-off-115549084.html
A tanker
accident and resulting leak in The Bronx has clean-up crews busy this
morning and leaves one Eastchester neighborhood roped off to
traffic.
The accident happened just
before 3 a.m. on the off ramp of exit 14 southbound on the New England
Thruway. That's the exit that takes drivers to the Hutchinson River
Parkway.
Fire department officials
say the tanker was carrying carbon dioxide which escaped and created a
cloud of gas in the immediate area. The exit ramp is closed at this
hour. No injuries have been reported.
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DURHAM (WTVD) -- The Bethesda fire chief tells ABC11
that two people were transported to the hospital Tuesday after exposure
to anhydrous ammonia fumes.
The incident happened around 3 p.m. at Cree
Headquarters on Silicon Drive in Durham.
Authorities say one person passed out and the other person
pulled him to safety, but then got sick from the fumes
too.
Both were transported as a precaution. Their
conditions are not known at this time.
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ALACHUA - A chemical
explosion severely hurt a man in a lab near Progress Corporate Park in
Alachua this afternoon.
The
SynQuest Labs chemist was mixing at least two chemicals when the process
exploded in his face.
At one
point, people were asked to stand upwind of the lab as the Gainesville
Fire Department Hazardous Materials Unit dressed in bright yellow,
sealed suits and prepared to go inside the building.
The explosion occurred in a sealed room, and fire
officials don't believe any of the chemicals escaped, said Alachua
County Fire Rescue Chief Larry Stewart.
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Two
chemical tanks have exploded during a blaze at a design manufacturing
plant in Essex.
Six fire crews were called to the Sil-Die factory in
Fullbridge, Maldon, at 1245 GMT.
Two phosphorus tanks have
exploded and crews have been hampered by a number of potentially
explosive chemicals.
The fire service said the two-storey property has been
"totally destroyed" and a heavy plume of smoke can be seen over the
town.
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A Mont Belvieu chemical facility was being searched
today for a missing worker after a fire started at the plant. The worker
being searched for was thought to be away from the work site, but the
search was being conducted for safety measures. A spokesman for
Enterprise Products, said there were no reported injuries from the
fire.
The plant is a Texas natural
gas and chemical facility
The cause
of the fire, which broke out shortly after noon at a facility used to
store natural gas liquids, was unknown. Emergency personnel cleared a
two-mile perimeter around the facility, and a nearby school was on
lockdown.
According to its website,
Enterprise Products owns or has interest in approximately 19,200 miles
of onshore natural gas pipelines that provide for the gathering and
transmission of natural gas in Alabama, Colorado, Louisiana,
Mississippi, New Mexico, Texas and Wyoming.
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Nearly 300 gallons of the toxic liquid xylene spilled
out of a holding tank in a light industrial park near 101 South Mckemy
Avenue in Chandler on Tuesday, according to the Chandler Fire
Department.
Authorities believe the level monitoring system in a
3,000 gallon holding tank malfunctioned, allowing the flammable liquid
to overflow, according to Battalion Chief Paul Nies of the Chandler Fire
Department. Firefighters were able to contain the highly flammable
liquid and prevent any additional overflow.
The
xylene that flowed out of the tank collected in a containment pit.
Xylene is a clear, colorless liquid that has a characteristically sweet
smell.
It is commonly used as a solvent in the printing and
rubber industries and as a cleaning agent.
Contractors hired by the owner of the tank are expected to
clean up the spill with fire crews providing
protection.
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A
resident=92s chemical solution to the winter storm=92s effect on a
driveway led to a need for cleanup by Denton Fire Department
personnel.
Police responded to a call in the 1300 block of Marble
Cove Lane to assist the fire department with a report of illegal
dumping. Responding officers met with fire personnel, who reported
receiving a call about antifreeze being poured into a city storm
drain.
Upon arrival, they found a large amount of antifreeze
in the gutter leaking into the storm drain in front of the original
caller=92s house, the report said. The caller=92s children noticed the
leaking when they returned home from church.
The fire
department had already begun cleanup when officers arrived. Officers
theorized the owner of the home tried to use the antifreeze to melt the
ice and snow on the driveway, the report states.
There was
no response when officers knocked on the door of the residence where the
substance was originating from.
It was estimated that 4
gallons of antifreeze had been used. When officers arrived, the fire
department had already used 100 pounds of absorbent material in the
cleanup effort.
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ADRIAN,
Mich. =97 Authorities say a leak at a facility that makes swimming pool
chemicals released a cloud over the city of Adrian.
Police
Chief Terry Collins says two workers were taken to a hospital to be
checked out as a precaution following the leak about 5:30 a.m. Monday at
the Chemtura Corp. facility. He says they appeared to be OK.
Collins
says classes were delayed for some area schools following the leak.
Adrian is located in about 60 miles southwest of
Detroit.
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ATLANTA - Hazmat crews were
on the scene of a chemical clean-up on Interstate 20 eastbound, between
Lee and Thornton Roads Monday.
A carrier went through a
weigh station and people working there noticed a leak.
Three
people reported not feeling well. Two people were treated on the scene
by Douglas County fire crews. A third person was transported to WellStar
Douglas Hospital.
Hazmat crews responded to the scene to clean-up the
leak.
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An
explosives factory prosecuted over a fatal blast is appealing against a
magistrate's findings in the Industrial Court.
The
factory at Gladstone in the mid-north exploded in 2006, killing three
workers and injuring two.
The Industrial Court found the explosion was triggered
by a cook-off effect inside a poorly-maintained chemical-mixing
machine.
The company Quin Investments and its chief operating
officer Nick Kuzub were convicted of breaching workplace safety laws and
fined $95,000 each.
Lawyer Grant Germain has argued on appeal that the
magistrate's findings were implausible and Mr Kuzub should have his
conviction quashed.
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A
chemical company has been sentenced after a worker suffered toxic burns
to his arms and chest at an Ellesmere Port factory.
The
employee at Abacus Chemical Ltd was mixing two chemicals together on 7
May 2009 when they exploded, causing him to be drenched in a hot, toxic
chemical solution.
The company was prosecuted in a joint case brought by
the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Environment Agency following
the incident at its plant on Oil Sites Road in Ellesmere
Port.
Chester Magistrates' Court, sitting in Knutsford,
heard that the company had mixed 22 kilograms of sodium cyanide pellets
with hydrogen peroxide to make them less toxic. By taking this action,
Abacus avoided having to pay a licensed hazardous waste company to
dispose of the pellets at a cost of less than =A3300.
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Tulare County and Visalia firefighters combined
efforts to contain and clean up a diesel-fuel spill Saturday on Highway
99 about a mile north of the Caldwell Avenue exit just west of the
Visalia city limits, firefighters reported.
A
500-gallon diesel-fuel tank towed by a pickup truck sprung a leak around
noon Saturday while heading south on Hwy. 99, reported Charlie Norman,
battalion chief and fire marshal for the Visalia Fire
Department.
California Highway Patrol officers pulled the truck
and diesel tank over, and both Tulare County firefighters and
Visalia-based members of a hazardous-materials team responded, Norman
reported.
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Dangerous vapors in houses near two former Modesto dry
cleaners triggered notices from state overseers to local public health
officials.
Some occupants say technicians indicated that levels
of PCE detected in their homes were no big deal. These people appeared
surprised that the state's formal letter to Stanislaus County leaders
suggests otherwise, and said they received no formal
notice.
"There is reason to believe that the illegal
discharges are likely to cause substantial injury to the public health,"
reads the letter from Michael Vivas, project manager with the state's
Department of Toxic Substances Control to county officials, dated Dec.
22.
Although 14 current or former Modesto dry cleaners
have polluted groundwater, high concentrations in soil samples at two
prompted state officials to request "emergency" action by the federal
Environmental Protection Agency. Airborne perchloroethylene, or PCE,
showed up in levels exceeding the state's limit in all 13 houses tested
in May.
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