From: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety" <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (20 articles)
Date: Fri, 3 Oct 2014 06:55:10 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
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Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Friday, October 3, 2014 at 6:54:34 AM

A service 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 (20 articles)

FIRE AT ALABAMA FIREWORKS FACTORY
Tags: us_AL, industrial, fire, response, fireworks

CHEMICALS, GREASE RELATED TO FIRE IN HOME, SCHOOL
Tags: us_IL, public, fire, response, cleaners, grease

CHEMICAL FUMES: 350 PEOPLE EVACUATED, 4 HOSPITALIZED
Tags: us_FL, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical

HAMILTON COUNTY DEPUTY RECEIVES CHEMICAL BURN IN METH BUST
Tags: us_TN, public, release, injury, illegal, meth_lab

HAZMAT RESPONDS TO MANITOU WATER TREATMENT FACILITY
Tags: us_CO, industrial, release, injury, chlorine, water_treatment

CHEMICALS TESTED FOR TOXICITY AFTER SPILL AT MOSMAN
Tags: Australia, transportation, release, injury, unknown_chemical

JANITORS IN HAZMAT SUITS CLEAN TEXAS SCHOOL
Tags: us_TX, education, discovery, response, other_chemical

HAZMAT TEAM ARRIVES TO DECONTAMINATE DALLAS EBOLA APARTMENT
Tags: us_TX, public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical

CLEANING FUMES SICKEN 4, OFFICE NEAR FLORIDA MALL EVACUATED
Tags: us_FL, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical

AMMONIA LEAK TRIGGERS HAZMAT INCIDENT
Tags: us_TX, public, release, response, ammonia

CHEMICAL SPILL AT MOOREFIELD AIR BASE SENDS 1 TO HOSPITAL
Tags: us_TX, industrial, release, injury, hydrochloric_acid

FIRE AT RECYCLING YARD ON STEEL STREET
Tags: us_NY, public, fire, response, gasoline, waste

WEST VIRGINIA MAN DIES AFTER CHEMICAL EXPLOSION
Tags: us_WV, public, follow-up, death, unknown_chemical

LARGE FIRE BURNS, RELEASES CHEMICALS IN SEATTLE
Tags: us_WA, industrial, fire, response, metals

TRUCK WITH INFLAMMABLE CHEMICAL EXPLODES AT INDO-PAK CHECK-POST
Tags: India, transportation, explosion, response, flammables, hydrogen_peroxide

CHEMICAL EXPLOSION HURTS 1
Tags: us_OR, laboratory, explosion, injury, other_chemical

CHEMICAL SPILL AT THE KODAK FACILITY
Tags: us_NY, industrial, release, response, unknown_chemical

MARTIN COUNTY ROAD REOPENS AFTER LEAKY BARREL FOUND
Tags: us_FL, public, release, response, unknown_chemical

UTAH MAN ATTACKED WITH CHEMICAL LYE
Tags: us_UT, public, release, injury, sodium_hydroxide

OFFICIALS INVESTIGATE REPEATED BLAZES AT PAINT RECYCLING PLANT
Tags: us_TX, industrial, fire, response, solvent, waste


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FIRE AT ALABAMA FIREWORKS FACTORY
Tags: us_AL, industrial, fire, response, fireworks

HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) - Emergency crews responded to a fire at a special effects and pyrotechnic company Thursday morning.
It happened at Ultratec at Moon Drive 148 at Owns Cross Roads just after 11 a.m. on Thursday.

More than a half-dozen fire trucks and HEMSI vehicles responded. Employees were evacuated from the building. It appears the fire had been contained shortly after the first call for assistance.

No injuries were reported, according to HEMSI officials.

Ultratec, which is formerly known as the Luna Tech plant, makes fireworks used around the world, including for the most recent Winter Olympic Games.

The company has experienced fires in the past, most recently in Nov. 2013. At that time, neighbors said an explosion rocked their homes. The bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms investigated that fire.

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CHEMICALS, GREASE RELATED TO FIRE IN HOME, SCHOOL
Tags: us_IL, public, fire, response, cleaners, grease

OTTAWA ? Ottawa firefighters put out two fires during the past two days that started in unusual ways and briefly got out of control.

The fire department was called to 756 Hiawatha Drive at 12:09 p.m. Tuesday, where a grease fire in the kitchen went out of control after it was not completely put out with a large dry-chemical extinguisher used by the resident, Tamika Dalton-Fox. She thought it was out and then it re-ignited.

?By the time we got there, the entire kitchen was engulfed,? said Capt. Brian Dose.

The fire in the kitchen was extinguished, the ceiling was opened, and fire was found in the attic and in the common wall between the kitchen and bathroom. They used their thermal-imaging camera and found no further fire, Ottawa Fire Department reported.

James Dalton owns the building, which sustained $90,000 in damage. There also was $8,000 in damage to contents, according to the department.

Marquette High School fire
Firefighters were called at 6:53 p.m. Monday to Marquette High School where a plastic laundry basket filled with clean towels was on fire on the second floor. Firefighters used an air-propelled water can to put out the fire, which they believe started when some towels that had been used for cleaning or spreading of chemicals or oil had been taken out of a dryer, folded and put away hot.

The fire department noted that in an enclosed situation, enough heat can build up to cause residual chemical or grease in rags or towels to combust.

---------------------------------------------

CHEMICAL FUMES: 350 PEOPLE EVACUATED, 4 HOSPITALIZED
Tags: us_FL, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical

Four people were hospitalized Thursday after fumes from cleaning fluid forced 350 workers to leave an office complex near the Florida Mall, according to Orange County Fire Rescue.

The evacuation happened shortly after noon at the Gateway Business Park when the smell of chemicals spread through air-conditioning vents, according to fire rescue.

---------------------------------------------

HAMILTON COUNTY DEPUTY RECEIVES CHEMICAL BURN IN METH BUST
Tags: us_TN, public, release, injury, illegal, meth_lab

A Hamilton County deputy received and chemical burn and he and another were exposed to methamphetamine ingredients during a search Thursday.

In a news release, sheriff's office spokeswoman Janice Atkinson said officers from patrol, criminal investigation and narcotics were searching a home at 7464 Gates Road for stolen property when they found meth labs in the garage and the woods behind the house.

Investigators also learned that two suspects from the home were at an address nearby, Atkinson said.

Officers found Jeremy Cross, 26, and Scotty Higgins, 31, in a house at 7434 Gates Road.

While officers were searching for a weapon, a meth lab under insulation spilled, Atkinson said. Two deputies were treated at a hospital, including one who was burned on an arm and a leg.

Cross and Higgins were charged with manufacturing meth. Higgins also was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, two counts of felony reckless endangerment, vandalism and felony possession of methamphetamine.

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HAZMAT RESPONDS TO MANITOU WATER TREATMENT FACILITY
Tags: us_CO, industrial, release, injury, chlorine, water_treatment

SPRINGS, Colo. -
Hazmat crews and law enforcement raced to Manitou Springs to keep a chlorine leak from spreading at the water treatment plant.

Fortunately, workers were able to get the tanks secured before the problem got worse.

?No additional chlorine gas that was leaking, the facility was secured, and the building was evacuated,? said Cmdr. John Padgett, El Paso County Sheriff?s Office, Emergency Services Division.

It all started when an employee was checking on some equipment inside Manitou's water treatment facility.

He was exposed to the gas and taken to the hospital.

---------------------------------------------

CHEMICALS TESTED FOR TOXICITY AFTER SPILL AT MOSMAN
Tags: Australia, transportation, release, injury, unknown_chemical

from a garbage truck spill are still being tested for toxicity, while the remaining materials have been returned to a Mosman property.

Four people were taken to hospital earlier today after Sirius Cove Road was sealed off by emergency crews.

Two garbage workers were collecting rubbish as part of a council clean-up when they picked up bags filled with bottles containing chemicals.

Fire and Rescue NSW believe the containers broke inside the truck and the chemicals mixed together giving off a noxious smell.

---------------------------------------------

JANITORS IN HAZMAT SUITS CLEAN TEXAS SCHOOL
Tags: us_TX, education, discovery, response, other_chemical

(CNN/WFAA) - Custodians dressed in white hazmat suits cleaned Lowe Elementary School on Wednesday night because of Ebola fears.
Thomas Eric Duncan is the first patient diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. A Dallas Independent School District official said Duncan had contact with five students at four different schools in the area.
Health officials in Dallas are reaching out to as many as 100 people who also may have had contact with Duncan.

---------------------------------------------

HAZMAT TEAM ARRIVES TO DECONTAMINATE DALLAS EBOLA APARTMENT
Tags: us_TX, public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical

HOUSTON, Texas -- A cleaning company has arrived at the scene of the apartment where the Dallas Ebola patient was staying prior to his diagnosis, Breitbart Texas has learned. Although the current condition of the apartment, where the patient's girlfriend is quarantined, is unknown, the residence is set to be cleaned tonight.
According to CNN, three other individuals are quarantined inside the apartment along with the patient's girlfriend. The outlet reported that linens soiled with sweat of the Ebola patient remain in the residence at this time.
Employees with the company Clean Guys Environmental (CGE) were near the apartment complex around 9 p.m.
One CGE employee told Breitbart Texas that the current plan is to enter the apartment tonight, assess the situation, make a plan, and then communicate with the CDC. Subsequent to such steps being taken, the cleaning process will begin.
It seems likely that the crew will attempt to remove everything that could be contaminated, due to contact with the Ebola patient.

---------------------------------------------

CLEANING FUMES SICKEN 4, OFFICE NEAR FLORIDA MALL EVACUATED
Tags: us_FL, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical

ORLANDO --
Four people at an office building off Sand Lake Road near the Florida Mall were taken to the hospital for exposure to fumes from a cleaning substance.

The building, at Gateway Business Park on Southland Boulevard, was evacuated Thursday afternoon. Hazardous materials crews checked out 20 people, who were exposed to the fumes, as a precaution.
Orange County Fire Rescue said it received a call shortly after noon about fumes leaking into a call center in the building. Investigators determined the fumes came from a cleaning supply substance used to clean the building's air ducts.

---------------------------------------------

AMMONIA LEAK TRIGGERS HAZMAT INCIDENT
Tags: us_TX, public, release, response, ammonia

SAN ANTONIO - An ammonia leak triggered a hazmat incident Wednesday morning on the city's Northeast Side.

It happened at the Labatt Food Service facility in the 4600 block of Greatland near Loop 410 and I-35.

A spokesperson for the San Antonio Fire Department says workers opened the wrong valve, causing the leak.

The incident was quickly under control. No one was hurt and no evacuations were needed.

---------------------------------------------

CHEMICAL SPILL AT MOOREFIELD AIR BASE SENDS 1 TO HOSPITAL
Tags: us_TX, industrial, release, injury, hydrochloric_acid

One person was taken to the hospital this morning after Moorefield Air Base near Alton was evacuated due to a chemical spill.

The spill happened at about 7:40 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Alton firefighters and the McAllen hazmat unit are both on scene.

McAllen fire officials confirm 10-15 gallons of hydrochloric acid spilled.

The hazmat unit is currently working to neutralize the acid with soda ash.

Once the acid is neutralized the Chemical Response Remediation Contractors (CRRC) will begin the clean-up.

The person taken to the hospital did not appear to be injured but was transported as a precaution.

---------------------------------------------

FIRE AT RECYCLING YARD ON STEEL STREET
Tags: us_NY, public, fire, response, gasoline, waste

A fire at a recycling yard kept firefighters and Hazmat crews busy Wednesday afternoon.
Fire officials say workers were preparing to recycle a car at the yard on Steel Street off Lyell Avenue. They were draining fluids out of the car when something ignited gasoline.
We're told the fire burned the car and caused several 55 gallon drums to burst. Fortunately, no one was hurt.
Officials say they called in the Hazmat crews to make sure other motor vehicle fluids at the yard were not in danger of catching fire.

---------------------------------------------

WEST VIRGINIA MAN DIES AFTER CHEMICAL EXPLOSION
Tags: us_WV, public, follow-up, death, unknown_chemical

A Wheeling, W.Va., man died tonight from injuries sustained in a chemical explosion at his workplace last month, according to a supervisor at the Allegheny County medical examiner's office.

Thomas Zahnow, 50, was transported by medical helicopter to West Penn Hospital after the explosion about 3 p.m. Sept. 19 at the Axiall Corp.'s Natrium Plant in New Martinsville.

Mr. Zahnow was burned by chemicals on his neck, arms, legs and trunk, and sustained inhalation injuries. He had been at the hospital since the incident, and died tonight at 8:19.

Representatives from Axiall and the Marshall County sheriff's office, which investigated the explosion, were not available for comment.

---------------------------------------------

LARGE FIRE BURNS, RELEASES CHEMICALS IN SEATTLE
Tags: us_WA, industrial, fire, response, metals

A large fire destroyed a manufacturing building in Seattle, sending a big plume of black smoke over the city and prompting an effort to contain toxic chemicals.

The fire at the building in the city's Fremont neighborhood began shortly before 1 p.m. Tuesday. Workers inside noticed smoke coming from a machine, pulled the fire alarm and attempted to contain it with an extinguisher. The fire continued to grow, and 12 workers evacuated, Seattle Fire Department spokesman Kyle Moore said.

By the time fire crews arrived, flames had fully engulfed the building. More than 100 fire fighters fought the blaze. It took about an hour to get the fire under control, Moore said.

The building houses two companies, Asko and Acu-Line. Asko provides metal finishing for the aerospace industry, and Acu-Line does metal etching. Both companies produce toxic waste.

Both companies are considered a "large-quantity generator of hazardous waste," state Department of Ecology spokesman Larry Altose said. That means the company falls under the category of manufacturers that produce 2,200 pounds of hazardous waste a month.

---------------------------------------------

TRUCK WITH INFLAMMABLE CHEMICAL EXPLODES AT INDO-PAK CHECK-POST
Tags: India, transportation, explosion, response, flammables, hydrogen_peroxide

An Indian tanker exploded soon after hydrogen peroxide, an inflammable chemical, was transferred from a Pakistani tanker at Integrated Check Post on the Indo-Pak border here on Wednesday, sparking panic in the high- security area.
No one was injured, though BSF personnel and Pakistani Rangers went into a tizzy after the powerful explosion which saw the debris scattered ?in an area of 2000 square yards?.
A magisterial probe has been ordered and the Pakistani side has been informed about the incident, officials said, adding a forensic team from Chandigarh has been dispatched.

---------------------------------------------

CHEMICAL EXPLOSION HURTS 1
Tags: us_OR, laboratory, explosion, injury, other_chemical

Two chemicals reacted at the Life Technologies building on the Thermo Fisher Scientific campus in west Eugene on Wednesday morning, causing an explosion that sent one employee to the hospital.

Company officials said the unidentified person was injured by broken glass. Deputy Fire Chief Randy DeWitt said the employee sustained minor injuries caused by an exploding beaker in which two nontoxic chemicals ? methyl iodide and picoline ? were mixed. The chemicals are colorless liquids at room temperature.

The employee was taken to Sacred Heart Medical Center at River-Bend in Springfield for treatment of cuts.

The chemical reaction did not result in the release of any toxic substances and did not pose a health threat to employees or to the larger community or environment, company officials said.

At least 13 units from the Eugene Springfield Fire Department were sent to the facility on Willow Creek Road, and some remained for more than an hour.

---------------------------------------------

CHEMICAL SPILL AT THE KODAK FACILITY
Tags: us_NY, industrial, release, response, unknown_chemical

Rochester, NY (WROC)- HAZMAT crews responded to a chemical spill at the Kodak facility off of West Ridge Road in Rochester. The unknown chemical started to leak after there was too much pressure in a drum at the plant.

HAZMAT crews with the Rochester Fire Department entered the facility and removed the chemical. The fire department says the situation did not pose an immediate threat to the workers at kodak.

---------------------------------------------

MARTIN COUNTY ROAD REOPENS AFTER LEAKY BARREL FOUND
Tags: us_FL, public, release, response, unknown_chemical

PALM CITY, Fla. - A hazmat team in Martin County was busy Monday night investigating a leaky barrel that closed an intersection.

A deputy found a barrel in the middle of Martin Highway and SW High Meadow Avenue that was leaking an unknown substance.

Traffic had to be diverted until the barrel was removed. Crews later determined the substance was not toxic but did not say what the barrel contained.

---------------------------------------------

UTAH MAN ATTACKED WITH CHEMICAL LYE
Tags: us_UT, public, release, injury, sodium_hydroxide

SALT LAKE CITY ? A Utah man is facing assault and mayhem charges, accused of attacking another man by spraying him in the face with chemical lye.

Richard Gilmore, 42, of Tooele thought the victim stole his wife's car, prosecutors said. Gilmore is charged with knocking on the victim's door about 2 a.m. and spraying him with the toxic substance.

When police arrived at the home on Sept. 7, the lye had turned the man's eye white and made some of his hair fall out, according to charging documents. He was flown to University of Utah hospital by medical helicopter, where he was treated for first- and second-degree burns on his face, scalp and neck.

Doctors don't know whether the man will regain vision in his left eye, the charges state.

Hours after the attack, detectives found the lye sprayer and a pair gloves on a dirt road near Middle Canyon after talking to an unnamed person who reported Gilmore was the attacker.

---------------------------------------------

OFFICIALS INVESTIGATE REPEATED BLAZES AT PAINT RECYCLING PLANT
Tags: us_TX, industrial, fire, response, solvent, waste

State and county officials are investigating a Tuesday morning fire at a paint recycling plant near Bruceville-Eddy, which brought in firefighters from several area departments and a hazardous materials team and bomb squad.
The alarm went out just after 9 a.m. at the Southern Enterprises of Envirocare plant, 1551 Old Moody Road. Initial pictures from the area showed black cones of smoke coming from the building.
The fire, which started in the recycling area of the plant and later ignited some paint thinner, was under control within an hour, Waco-McLennan County Emergency Management coordinator Frank Patterson said.
In the past eight months, area fire departments have been called to the property several times, he said.
The business takes automotive paint and separates out a paint thinner component for resale. The business had 250 to 300 gallons of new and recycled paint thinner on hand, and some of the chemical was ignited when plastic storage containers melted.
Patterson said officials still are investigating the cause of the fire but suspect it was electrical.
State fire marshals are investigating the blaze in the context of other recent fires in the facility, he said.

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