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Table of
Contents (10 articles)
STUDENT INJURED IN BOSTON COLLEGE CHEMICAL
ACCIDENT
Tags: us_MA, laboratory, explosion, injury,
mustard_gas, toxics, water
500 GALLONS OF LIQUID ASPHALT SPILLS FROM TANKER
TRUCK
Tags: us_SC, transportation,
release, response, asphalt
SUSPICIOUS CONTAINER FOUND IN BAYONNE
Tags: us_NJ, public, discovery, response,
petroleum
BLAZE AT METUCHEN PLASTICS WAREHOUSE INJURES 2
FIREFIGHTERS
Tags: us_NJ, industrial,
fire, response, plastics
SHELTER-IN-PLACE LIFTED AFTER WAREHOUSE
FIRE
Tags: us_TX, industrial,
fire, injury, plastics
TRAIN DERAILS IN CALERA, SPILLING 350 GALLONS OF
DIESEL FUEL
Tags: us_AL, transportation,
release, response, diesel
MAN TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AFTER CHEMICAL CLOUD AT
FARM
Tags: United, Kingdom,
industrial, release, injury, cleaners
GAINESVILLE FIREFIGHTERS EXTINGUISH CHEMICAL FIRE AT SIVANCE
NEAR AIRPORT
Tags: us_FL, industrial,
fire, response, hydrochloric_acid
CHEMICAL SPILL SHUTS LEBANON
CHURCH RD. IN WEST MIFFLIN
Tags:
us_PA, transportation, release, injury, corrosives
FIREFIGHTERS DECONTAMINATED AFTER EXTINGUISHING AUSTELL
CHEMICAL FIRE
Tags: us_GA, industrial,
fire, response, unknown_chemical
---------------------------------------------
Student injured in Boston College chemical
accident
Tags: us_MA, laboratory, explosion, injury,
mustard_gas, toxics, water
A Boston
College chemistry student was injured when a beaker exploded during an
experiment this morning, cutting her face and forcing the evacuation of
Merkert Chemistry Center, officials said.
The student was working alone in
the lab with a small amount of thionyl chloride -- a substance commonly
used in organic chemistry experiments -- when it reacted violently,
according to fire department spokesman Steve MacDonald.
The student, Hee Yeon Cho,
received cuts on her face and minor burns on her hands, he
said.
Boston College spokesman Jack
Dunn said Cho, who recently finished her fourth year in the doctoral
program, subsequently left the lab to take care of the cuts while fellow
graduate students notified Boston College police. The university then
notified the Boston fire department.
=93This was a minor chemical reaction that
caused the beaker she was using to break,=94 Dunn said.
Fire crews and a hazmat team
responded to a call at 10:47 a.m., but cleared the scene by 1 p.m.,
MacDonald said. Throughout the early afternoon, some responders=92
vehicles remained at the lab at 2609 Beacon St. in Brighton, but people
were allowed in and out of the building.
After going through a series of
showers in a mobile decontamination unit, Cho was taken to St.
Elizabeth=92s Medical Center, where she was treated for injuries that do
not appear life-threatening, MacDonald said. No one else was injured,
Dunn said.
After the beaker ruptured, Cho
put a paper towel over the cut on her cheek and then drove herself home,
said Chris Schuster, 25, a graduate chemistry student at the
scene.
Her return home complicated the
cleanup effort: Crews also had to decontaminate her car and her
apartment in Brighton, MacDonald said.
=93It was more challenging
because the student left,=94 he said.
A chemistry professor came to the
lab and determined responders should dilute the thionyl chloride with
=93large amounts of water,=94 MacDonald said, and Boston College brought
in a cleaning company.
It is still
unclear what caused the reaction, he said.
Thionyl chloride reacts strongly
with moisture and can be dangerous to humans if vapors are inhaled, said
Lawrence Scott, Cho=92s professor. The chemical can be used to make
mustard gas and nerve toxins.
=93Honestly,
I think she was probably never expecting this to happen. This seems like
a somewhat standard procedure,=94 Schuster said regarding the
experiment.
Schuster said chemistry students
at Boston College are required to take a lab safety training course.
While it is uncommon for students to work alone, the department=92s
guidelines for lab safety do not forbid it, according to a document
posted online by the Boston College Office of Environmental Health and
Safety.
Still, researchers are warned not
to work with hazardous or potentially explosive compounds by themselves,
said Kai Hong, 26, another chemistry graduate student who was going to
the building this afternoon.
Dunn said
that to his knowledge, Cho, whom he called a =93skilled researcher,=94
did not violate any safety procedures.
---------------------------------------------
500
GALLONS OF LIQUID ASPHALT SPILLS FROM TANKER TRUCK
Tags: us_SC, transportation, release, response,
asphalt
MAYESVILLE - A tanker truck spilled about 500 gallons
of liquid asphalt into the median of U.S. 378 near Mayesville on
Thursday.
Capt. Brian Horton of the
Sumter Fire Department said the Seaco Asphalt Emulsions truck was
heading west when it popped a tire near East Brewington Road about 10:30
a.m., causing a leak in the bottom of the tank it was pulling. The truck
pulled into the road's grassy median, where most of the viscous, black
tar-and-water mixture spilled onto the ground.
---------------------------------------------
SUSPICIOUS CONTAINER FOUND IN BAYONNE
Tags: us_NJ, public, discovery, response,
petroleum
BAYONNE - A 15-gallon drum marked =93toxic=94 was
found by Bayonne fire fighters at about 6 p.m. on June 23 in the area of
169 West 28th St. near the curb.
Firefighters cordoned off
the area and representatives from the state Department of Environmental
Protection and Hudson Regional Health Commission were called to the
scene.
The Bayonne Fire Department Hazmat Team donned
protective gear, and metered the area to check for any harmful readings.
There were none.
The DEP,
in conjunction with a cleanup contractor (Ken=92s Marine Service of
Bayonne), removed the container from the scene at about 9 p.m. According
to a DEP representative, early testing reportedly points to a
petroleum-based product, and will undergo further
analysis.
---------------------------------------------
BLAZE AT
METUCHEN PLASTICS WAREHOUSE INJURES 2 FIREFIGHTERS
Tags:
us_NJ, industrial, fire, response, plastics
METUCHEN
=97 Firefighters are still working on the scene of a large,
early-morning fire at a plastics warehouse that required the assistance
of over 14 area fire companies.
Metuchen
mayor Thomas Vahalla said borough police originally responded to a
burglary alarm automatically dispatched from C+K Plastics at 159 Liberty
Street, but saw signs of smoke and fire instead. By 2:30 a.m. the fire
was being addressed by multiple fire and HAZMAT units. It took nearly
four hours to put the fire out, according to several firemen on the
scene.
---------------------------------------------
SHELTER-IN-PLACE LIFTED AFTER WAREHOUSE FIRE
Tags: us_TX, industrial, fire, injury,
plastics
A two-alarm fire destroyed a warehouse in Pasadena on
Sunday and forced a shelter-in-place order for some
residents.
A transformer blew during
the blaze at Global Plastics Co., 6224 Spencer Highway, temporarily
putting a Pasadena sewage treatment plant out of service. In addition,
one of the more than 60 firefighters at the scene had to be treated for
heat exhaustion. No other injuries were reported.
Officials said the last employee left the facility
around 3 p.m. Passers-by noticed the smoke from the recyclable plastics
facility around 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
Authorities issued a shelter-in-place order that from the
site to Beltway 8 and Red Bluff. It was later canceled. Hazmat was
called to the scene because officials had concerns about hydrocarbons in
the building. Global Plastics Co. recycles discarded plastic products by
grinding them into pellets, Pasadena Fire Marshall David Brannon said.
The facility has had a fire before, he said.
Because plastics were ignited in the blaze, Brannon
expected a protracted effort to put it out, using an excavator to stir
the materials and attack potential hot spots in the rubble. He expected
the facility to be "a total loss."
"The
things about plastics is when they start burning, they burn hot," he
said.
---------------------------------------------
TRAIN
DERAILS IN CALERA, SPILLING 350 GALLONS OF DIESEL FUEL
Tags: us_AL, transportation,
release, response, diesel
CALERA - About 350 gallons of diesel fuel spilled
Sunday afternoon when a train derailed at a CSX substation, according to
Calera Fire Capt. Luke Crim.
=93The lead engine came up and the track gave way and
the engine just laid over on its side,=94 Crim said of the incident,
which happened about 2 p.m.
Vehicle traffic was not affected, nor were residents
ever in danger, Crim said.
=93It was on their (CSX) property, but it was a hazmat
condition,=94 Crim said. =93It was in an area where there weren=92t any
residents. We contained it to that one little area.=94
The
engine contained about 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel, Crim
said.
---------------------------------------------
MAN TAKEN
TO HOSPITAL AFTER CHEMICAL CLOUD AT FARM
Tags: United, Kingdom,
industrial, release, injury, cleaners
farm worker has been taken
to hospital after a chemical incident at a farm this
morning.
Fire crews from Burton, Stone, Cheadle, Longton and
Hanley, including specialist vehicles, were called out to the farm in
Leigh shortly after 8.30am to reports that cleaning chemicals had been
mixed and created a gas cloud.
Bob
Preston, station manager for Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said
a 60-metre cordon was set down and firefighters used gas-tight suits and
other specialist equipment to assess the situation.
He said:
"Only a very small amount of gas had been created as a result of the
accidental mixing and so the incident did not require any further
firefighter activity.
---------------------------------------------
GAINESVILLE FIREFIGHTERS EXTINGUISH CHEMICAL FIRE AT SIVANCE
NEAR AIRPORT
Tags: us_FL, industrial, fire, response,
hydrochloric_acid
Firefighters spent 30 minutes extinguishing a fire
started by lightning at a specialty chemical company Thursday evening,
fire officials said. No one was injured.
According
to Gainesville Fire Rescue, the fire at SiVance at 5002 NE 54th Place
was reported at 8:33 p.m.
The plant is on the company=92s 65-acre site just
north of the Gainesville Regional Airport.
Fire
crews wore full protective clothing and breathing tanks to deal with the
fire that broke out in a tank of hydrochloric acid.
Officials
said the fire in the partially filled, 5,000-gallon tank appeared to be
the result of a lightning strike that accompanied a band of
thunderstorms crossing the region late in the day on
Thursday.
Due to the chemical involved, some decontamination was
required once the fire was out.
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL
SPILL SHUTS LEBANON CHURCH RD. IN WEST MIFFLIN
Tags: us_PA, transportation, release, injury,
corrosives
Allegheny County Emergeny Services hoped to reopen
Lebanon Church Road in West Mifflin by early evening, after a chemical
spill closed the road this morning.
The local fire and police
department and an Allegheny County Hazmat team continue to clean the
road after a commercial tank trucker leaked coal tar oil -- a flammable
corrosive chemical that can cause burns if it comes in contact with
skin. Alvin Henderson, the acting chief of Allegheny County Emergency
Services, said a malfunctioning cap probably caused the
leak.
The product splashed onto passengers of a van directly
following the truck. Mr. Henderson said the five people were treated on
scene by emergency medical teams, then sent to Jefferson Regional
Medical Center. All have been released, he said.
---------------------------------------------
FIREFIGHTERS DECONTAMINATED AFTER EXTINGUISHING AUSTELL
CHEMICAL FIRE
Tags: us_GA, industrial,
fire, response, unknown_chemical
After extinguishing a
chemical fire in Austell late Thursday, Cobb County firefighters had to
be decontaminated.
The cleaning supplies at Lance Alliance and Textile
Company, which provides dry cleaning services, near Six Flags Drive
caught fire a little before midnight on Thursday, firefighters
explained.
It was a small fire, which the firefighters put out
quickly, according to this report from WSB TV. However, some of the
firefighters had come in contact with burning chemicals, which is when
the county's hazardous materials team was called in.
---------------------------------------------
