TUCSON - Investigators are working to determine the cause of a chemical spill at a plant on Tucson's south side.

Tucson Fire Captain Jeff Langejans says around 2:30 a.m. Saturday, an operator from Sasol North America's plant in the 7800 block of South Kolb Road, noticed that hydrochloric acid (HC1) was pooling in a spill containment area.

After investigating, workers determined that a 12,000 gallon HC1 above-ground storage tank was leaking at a rate of five gallons per minute. The chemical is 35% solution and is extremely corrosive.

Workers started off-loading the tank, which had approximately 9,000 gallons. An estimated 4,000 gallons of the liquid had been spilled into the secondary containment area.

Tucson Fire crews responded around 5 a.m. as a precautionary measure. They remained on scene until the leaking tank was emptied into other storage tanks.

No employees or firefighters were injured.

A nine-mile stretch of the interstate in northern Gwinnett,  Barrow and Jackson counties was shut down in both directions around 3:40 a.m. Tuesday after the tractor-trailer, which officials said was hauling possibly hazardous chemicals, caught fire near Ga. 211.

Braselton police Assistant Chief Lou Solis said the right rear brakes on the Old Dominion Freight Lines truck caught fire around 3:30 a.m., and the fire spread into the trailer.

“He had twin trailers, and in the rear trailer, he was transporting hazardous liquids,” Solis told the AJC.

When Barrow fire crews arrived and saw placards on the truck indicating that it was hauling corrosives, “they looked it up on their emergency response books and it said you need hazmat suit,” Solis said. ”Barrow County doesn’t have hazmat suits, so they called Gwinnett fire out here.”

Gwinnett fire crews suited up and doused the fire, Solis said, but not before some 200 to 300 gallons of the hazardous liquid spilled from the trailer.

Solis said shortly after 7 a.m. that officials were waiting on a private hazmat cleanup crew to arrive “and determine what can be moved and what cannot be moved.”

Police were forced to deal with two separate truck rollovers on Greater Toronto Area highways Monday.

The first occurred when a tractor trailer overturned Monday morning on a ramp at Highway 401 and Warden Avenue in Toronto’s east end.

The truck was headed eastbound on Highway 401 when it tipped onto its side while exiting the highway around 11 a.m.The Ontario Provincial Police said that speed may have been a factor.

The driver suffered minor injuries.

CBC’s Jeff Semple reported that the truck was hauling a trailer with 20,000 litres of ferric sulfate, a highly corrosive and acidic liquid that is often used to treat wastewater.

A hazardous materials team was called in to deal with the cleanup. An unknown amount of the liquid was feared to have spilled out and leaked in the ground.

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. -
A chemical scare in South Burlington kept hazmat and fire crews busy for hours Thursday.

Police were called to a home on Swift Street after the tenants discovered a box of suspicious, liquid-filled jars hidden upstairs in their rental property. Hazmat crews removed less than two gallons of the mystery substance from the home. Officials tested the liquid on site and determined that the combination of chemicals was hazardous.

The state's hazmat chief says the chemicals may have been used by a previous tenant to make illicit drugs.

"And so the chemicals were, in fact, dangerous chemicals. They were flammable, toxic, corrosive and so our folks were able to identify them," Vt. Hazmat Chief Christopher Herrick said.

Officials say the chemicals do not pose a health risk to anyone in the area. But police are remaining on the scene until a hazardous waste company comes to remove them.

Veolia Environmental Services Technical Solutions reported a small fire at its hazardous materials recycling facility in Menomonee Falls Wednesday morning.
A flammable and corrosive liquid ignited while a sample was being taken from a single drum container, facility manager Joe Baumann said.
The fire was contained to the individual drum and a small area around it. No other hazardous materials were involved, he said.
The fire and was fully extinguished about 15 minutes after it broke out, Baumann added.
No injuries were sustained as a result of this small fire, although an employee was evaluated at a local hospital and released.

A no-go zone has been set up at Lyttelton port after a major chemical spill from a container on-board a vessel.

Christchurch firefighters were called about 7.30am to help decontaminate the vessel berthed at Lyttelton Port.

The port said the fire brigade and harbour master were this afternoon co-coordinating the cleanup of the "class 8 hazardous substance" on the vessel.

However, they have not said what the substance was, nor named the vessel. The Ministry for the Environment defines a class 8 substance as "corrosive".

A statement from the port's operations manager Paul Monk said the container had now been removed was now in a washbay for further cleanup.

About two dozen passenger vehicles were damaged this morning by vandals who slashed tires, doused cars with a corrosive chemical and dumped sugar in gas tanks in the Overbrook section, police said.

Capt. Melvin Singleton, commander of the 19th Police District, said tires were slashed on 17 cars and the paint on seven other passengers vehicles had been stripped away by an acid-like substance.

Some cars also had sugar in the gas tanks, he said.

A Fire Department Hazmat Unit was called to the scene to scrape off some of the corrosive chemical for testing.

LORENCE, S.C. --
The ramp to I-20 toward Columbia, exit 160-B on I-95 southbound in Florence, was shut down at about 1 p.m.  Monday because of an overturned tanker, according to Lance Cpl. Sonny Collins with the S.C. Highway Patrol.

Collins said the West Florence Fire Department assessed the chemical situation with the tanker. The Florence County Hazmat team also was called to the scene, according to the fire department. The fire department said the liquid is highly flammable and corrosive material. Vapors from the chemical can form and the chemical is explosive when mixed with air.

Emergency crews were pushed a half-mile back from the accident, and the driver was taken to a local hospital. 

SHREWSBURY —  A fuming package at United Parcel Service at Routes 140 and 20 burned itself out without incident yesterday afternoon, fire officials said.

Fire Capt. Seth Colby said workers inside the facility were loading a trailer when they noticed a package emitting fumes.

Capt. Colby said UPS workers detached the trailer from the building and pulled it into the yard near the Route 20 side of the facility, near Flynn’s Truck Plaza.

He said the corrosive agent in the package emitted vapors and generated heat, but firefighters did not have to put out any flames. He said that because the package was corroded by the substance, he could not say what was in it. He said the package had been headed to another UPS facility.

Firefighters arrived about 2:30 p.m. and left around 4:30. Fire officials called for a Tier 1 statewide hazardous materials response. They said there were no injuries.

Capt. Colby said UPS hired Clean Harbors, an environmental cleanup company, to clean out the trailer. Tests will be performed to determine the cause of the exothermic reaction, meaning a chemical reaction that releases heat.

PORTLAND, Ore. – A Swan Island worker died Sunday after he fell into a tank that was full of a hazardous chemical, fire and rescue officials said.

A 57-year-old man working on a barge fell into the tank full of a chemical called lignin amine, according to Lt. Rich Tyler with Portland Fire and Rescue. Lignin is a toxic, corrosive chemical derived from wood and used in agriculture.

Fire and rescue responded to the scene at 10:10 a.m.

The tank is about 40 feet long, 50 feet wide and 20 feet deep, Tyler said. Rescuers used a camera to confirm the man was inside. The oxygen levels were so little that it would cause someone to pass out within one minute and died soon after, Tyler said.

A chemical spill forced the closure of a residential road for three hours last night.

Fifteen fire engines from across south-west London rushed to Elm Crescent, in Kingston, after a battery in a CCTV van overheated and corrosive acid leaked into the road.

GULFPORT -- A spokesman for Channel Chemical Corp. has issued a statement reassuring the public that a spill of 500 to 1,000 gallons of corrosive liquid on its property poses no threat to the public.
Seaway Road has reopened after being shut down more than an hour this morning for emergency response to the business on Seaway near Three Rivers Road.
An environmental source earlier today told the Sun Herald the leak involved a valve malfunction on a tank behind the business, where the malfunction leaked phosphorous acid, hydrochloric acid and a type of ethanol.

A Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue hazardous materials team was waiting for a cargo ship to dock at Port Everglades late Monday night, authorities said.

The cargo ship was carrying a container that was leaking a corrosive substance, according to Sheriff's spokeswoman Dani Moschella.

The leaking container was aboard the ship in a contained area and was only affecting the container below it, she said.


It was unclear what the corrosive substance was but it may be paint-related and does not seem to be life-threatening, Moschella said.

MARSHALL CO.-- Motorists should watch out for an overturned semi that is blocking travel on Exit 25 on interstate I-24.

Police say Calvert City Exit 25 (westbound ramp to Purchase Parkway southbound) on interstate I-24 is closed. The close happened after a semi overturned.

The load is HAZMAT corrosive in bulk containers in a box truck. A HAZMAT team has been requested to evaluate the load.

An Aberdeen street has been closed as emergency services deal with a "significant" chemical spill.

Emergency crews wearing special gas-tight suits are trying to contain the spill at Kirkhill Drive in Dyce, Aberdeen.

The street has been closed but a police spokeswoman said nobody had been injured and there were no evacuations as a result of the spill.

Some staff in the nearby Rolls Wood Group building are unable to leave as Kirkhill Drive is their only exit from work.

A fire spokesman said two 25-litre drums containing ammonium bisulphite, a corrosive liquid, had leaked onto the street from an ARR Craib Transport lorry coming from the Altens area.

Eddie Anderson, ARR Craib managing director, said the lorry was being hired by another company to transport the chemical drums.

"The driver was en route and noticed a leakage when he stopped," he said.

GREENBURGH — A chemical spill prompted an evacuation of a chemical lab on Route 9A today.

Employees of ICL-IP America at 410 Saw Mill River Road were asked to leave the building at 1:40 p.m. after a corrosive chemical agent was spilled on the third floor.

The spill was contained and no one was injured, police said.

The Hastings Fire Department, Greenburgh Technical Rescue and Westchester County Hazardous Materials Response Team responded. The hazmat team is trying to determine what the chemical is.

BEIJING, September 13, 2011 (AFP) - Three people were killed and another three wounded in an explosion at a chemical plant in east China on Tuesday, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The cause of the explosion at the privately owned plant in Leping city, Jiangxi province, is not yet known and no leaks of liquid or toxic gas were detected, Xinhua said, citing the city government.

The Jiangwei High Technology Co., which was previously state-owned, produces nontoxic polyvinyl alcohol, which is commonly used in the manufacture of glue and acetic acid, a food additive that can be corrosive when concentrated.

The injured were taken to hospital in nearby Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi, the local government told Xinhua.

Chikaming Township officials have released more details about a tanker that exploded Thursday night in Sawyer, Michigan.

Police also released dramatic video from a patrol car dash camera that shows the tanker exploding. Watch NewsCenter 16 tonight at 5:30 to see that video for yourself.

Thursday evening, the driver of the tanker had pulled over at the TA travel lodge for dinner, but noticed vapors come from the tanker when he returned.

Officers were called out, and employees at the travel lodge were evacuated.

Soon later the tanker exploded, sending shards of metal flying into the air.

Amazingly, no one was seriously hurt.

Chikaming Township Fire Chief Mike Davidson confirmed to NewsCenter 16 that the tanker was heading from Illinois to Canada and was carrying a substance of combined water and sodium hydroxide.

The substance is highly corrosive. Sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, is used to make paper, soap and drain cleaner.

The tanker was aluminum. Davidson said he cannot say whether that was a safe container to be transporting the substance, but said the matter is under investigation.

Swimming was briefly banned Friday afternoon at Warren Dunes State Park after a semi carrying hazardous materials exploded at a truck stop in Sawyer, Michigan on Thursday night.

Crews are on scene cleaning up the aftermath. Some of the materials leaked into a drainage ditch that empties about one mile south of Warren Dunes State Park, and water had tested positive for those chemicals. That's according to the Berrien County drain commissioner, who is there with conservation officers and the health department.

Based on hourly testing, the DNR has banned swimming at the dunes . They have since lifted the swimming restriction.

When we asked what kind of chemical was being carried by the semi, we were told it was some kind of corrosive.

A truck carrying a thousand litres of corrosive liquids, including nitric acid, crashed on the Pacific Highway this morning.

Chris Bishop, from Fire and Rescue NSW, says the spill has been contained.

He says no evacuations were necessary, but breathing equipment is being used.

"The only requirement at the moment is for people who are up close," Mr Bishop said.

"We were monitoring that and we had police located in the nearest residences which were, I believe, about 150 yards away.

"We haven't needed to follow that path because there was initial fuming but that's died down."

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.

Hazardous Material Spill
Incident Location: Ventura County Medical Center Urgent Care / Outpatient treatment facility
Material spilled: Trichloroacetic Acid (corrosive liquid)

Persons exposed: 2 facility staff, and one patient

Narrative: Ventura fire units were dispatched and responded to a report of a hazardous condition on the second-floor of the recently opened Ventura County Medical Center's urgent care center / outpatient treatment facility at the Loma Vista Rd. campus. Facility staff told first arriving firefighters that a patient and two staff members were exposed to noxious vapors from an accidental spill of an acid solution used to treat skin conditions in a second-floor treatment room. Facility administrators and County maintenance personnel had already ordered the building evacuated and the building's ventilation system shut down (to limit vapor spread) prior to the first responder's arrival. The City's hazardous materials response team was summoned to the scene to aid in mitigating the hazard. Hazmat crews entered the second-floor treatment area in personal protective equipment, collected, bagged and removed the spilled material, then tested the effected areas to ensure it was safe to reoccupy the building.

The three persons who had been exposed to the vapors, and that experienced some respiratory discomfort, had left the area prior to arrival of firefighters. However, all three were contacted by facility staff and later returned to the hospital to undergo medical evaluation.

A special disposal team was called in from California to remove hazardous waste that was discovered and contained Tuesday afternoon by Yuma firefighters.

Fire Inspector Kayla Holiman said the Yuma Fire Department responded to a medical call at 2130 W. 24th Street shortly before 1:00 p.m. While they were on scene, she said firefighters noticed an unknown substance leaking from a the trailer of a semi truck that was parked in the same parking lot.

Holiman said a YFD Engine Company was called to the scene and found that a 270-gallon tote container was leaking a unknown corrosive liquid.

The YFD's Hazardous Materials Team then responded and contacted CHEMTREC (a national chemical data base for emergency response procedures). The liquid was later identified as sodium potassium carbonate, which is a cleaning solution.

“It poses an inhalation and absorption hazard,” Holiman said. “It is also corrosive to metal.”

Harpersville Firefighters Mark Lewis and Jeff Blankenship notified residents of 15 homes to evacuate Friday afternoon after ten cars of a CSX freight train overturned about a half mile south of US 280 in the area of Dead Hollow Road and Rock School Road about 2 Friday afternoon.

At least some of the cars contained four chemicals considered hazardous. Capt. Wade Holley who works with both the Harpersville and Vincent fire departments and was the incident commander, said the chemicals were corrosive, highly flammable and toxic if inhaled.

The Pelham HazMat unit, Alabaster and Calera Decontamination units, a representative from the Emergency Management Agency and the Westover Fire Department responded to offer assistance, and the Chelsea Fire Department was on standby to cover calls for Harpersville, Vincent and Westover if needed.

(DALLAS – May 25, 2011) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in cooperation with the City of Wabbaseka, Arkansas Department of Emergency Management (ADEM), Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently removed about 300 abandoned chemical containers from a demolished school in Wabbaseka, Arkansas. The chemicals removed included flammables, oxidizers, corrosive acids, corrosive bases, toxics and non-regulated materials.

“People living around the demolished school can rest assured that their health and safety will not be compromised from potentially dangerous materials,” said Al Armendariz EPA Regional Administrator. “Thanks to the collaborative effort of the EPA, ADEQ, FDA, ADEM and the City of Wabbaseka, a potentially dangerous situation has been defused.”

The site is the former Wabbaseka High School Science Laboratory chemical storage room. The school was abandoned in 1996 and demolished in January 2011. During the demolition, authorities discovered the chemical storage room contained various laboratory chemicals. However, demolition contractors completed demolition of the school building with the exception of the chemical storage room.

Firefighters in hazardous materials suits prepare to enter the Airport Road Transfer Station to collect a chemical sample to test for identification. Tests determined the chemical was potassium hydroxide.

A cloud of fumes that rose at a Snohomish County waste transfer station near Paine Field on Wednesday morning were likely caused by a corrosive chemical that had been dumped in with garbage.
 
Hazardous materials teams from several fire departments responded to the chemical spill inside the Snohomish County Airport Road Recycling & Transfer Station on May 18 on the 10700 block of Minuteman Drive, east of Paine Field.
 
Tests determined that the chemical was potassium hydroxide, said Leslie Hynes, spokesperson for Snohomish County Fire District 1. Potassium hydroxide, aka caustic potash, is a corrosive agent with a variety of industrial uses.

EVERETT -- Fumes that rose from a Snohomish County waste transfer station on Wednesday morning apparently were caused by a corrosive chemical dumped in with garbage.

Hazardous material crews from several fire departments responded to the chemical spill inside a county waste transfer station near Paine Field.

Snohomish County Fire District 1 spokeswoman Leslie Hynes said tests showed the chemical was potassium hydroxide. It has a number of industrial uses, but it also is sometimes used in the manufacture of illegal drugs.

Firefighters located two five-gallon plastic buckets with residual amounts of potassium hydroxide in the area where the vapor cloud was seen, Hynes said.

"Potassium hydroxide had to react with some other substance to generate a vapor cloud like the one described by the transfer station employees," Hynes said.

PITTSBURG, Calif. -- A minor train derailment in Pittsburg has resulted in a hazardous materials spill, a Contra Costa Hazardous Materials program spokesman said.

The derailment was reported at about 12:30 p.m. in the area of Cornwall Street, said Randy Sawyer, the county's chief environmental health and hazardous materials officer.

Sawyer said the train car that derailed was carrying waste from the Tesoro refinery that included sodium sulfide and sodium hydroxide.

He said the mix is "very corrosive and very caustic," but that residents are not believed to be in danger.

"It doesn't look to be that major at this time and we don't expect any off-site impacts, but there may be road closures in the area," Sawyer said.

Hazmat crews were dispatched to Wolf Laurel after the driver of a Fed-Ex truck flipped on I-26 and spilled over 100 gallons of diesel fuel along the roadway.

According to NC Highway State Trooper, Aubrey Hollar, Steven Glenn Lewis, 40, of Kingsport, TN was traveling westbound on Interstate 26 in a double tractor trailer Fed-Ex truck, when he lost control of his vehicle just after 6 a.m. on Tuesday, May 3 and flipped the truck over a guardrail.

“It is possible that he fell asleep, but the cause (of the accident) is still under investigation,” said Hollar.

Jeff Willis, Emergency Management director, said that the truck, which was carrying mixed hazardous materials, including various corrosives, also spilled over 100 gallons of diesel fuel on to the roadside, when the gas tank dislodged from the truck at the time of the incident.

The NC Hazardous Materials Regional Response Team responded to the accident just after 8 a.m. and determined that there was no immediate danger on the scene.

ROCK ISLAND— It was just before one o'clock Thursday afternoon when hazmat crews were called to the Rock Island water treatment plant for a chemical spill coming from a tanker truck.

"It's a corrosive agent that the water treatment plant uses, overflow caused spillage out of the building onto driveway behind me" said Rock Island assistant fire chief Jeff Yerkey.

As plant employees evactuated, crews began suiting up, working quickly to stop the leak that had begun eating through concrete.

"They stopped the leak using some earthen berms, dirt, sand and commercial boom equipment. We had it pretty much contained to this facility within a short amount of time" said Yerkey.

March 22--CHOUTEAU -- A Chouteau firefighter remained hospitalized Monday following a semi truck crash on Highway 69.
Chouteau Police Sgt. Rod Howell said two firefighters were transported to St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa after the two-semi collision Wednesday. One firefighter collapsed on the scene, said Howell, and another was taken to the hospital two days later. A hazardous materials crew, Sooner Management, worked into the night to clean up after the crash.
Chouteau emergency personnel received the call at 3:39 p.m. Howell said the first semi, driven by Eugene Henderson of Newark, Ohio, was exiting Highway 412 onto Highway 69. Henderson began making a u-turn around the highway barrier with the intention of going south.
Howell said the driver was obstructing the northbound lanes near Fiesta Mart. The second semi, belonging to Transport America, was northbound. Howell said driver Jessie Hill, of Balch Springs, Texas, attempted to avoid the crash. Hill swerved left and skidded 85 feet, striking the other semi in the southbound lane.

TACOMA -- A corrosive liquid left on a trooper's car that was vandalized at his home prompted a hazardous materials response at two separate locations around the Tacoma area Tuesday morning.
The trooper came out to his car in the morning and found a pink substance had been poured on his patrol car and an empty container was sitting next to the vehicle, said patrol spokesman Guy Gill.

The trooper bagged up the container and drove it to the state patrol office on 112th Street East in Parkland, officials said.

But once there, officials called a hazmat team to the patrol's office to determine the source of the liquid, and the trooper was taken to a local hospital just to be checked out and was later released. He was the only person exposed, officials said.

EL PASO, Texas -- El Paso Fire Department hazmat crew was on the scene of a chemical spill in far East El Paso Saturday.
According to El Paso County Sheriff's Officials, a corrosive liquid was found leaking from a semi-truck.
Sheriff's deputies closed off the area near 1316 N. Horizon as a precaution.
Deputies say some people came in contact with the substance and had to be decontaminated.
According to sheriff’s spokesman, the chemical is believed to be trimethylolpropane poloxypropylene triamine.

KNOXVILLE - Eastbound traffic on Interstate 40 at the Western Avenue and 17th Street exit was back to normal this afternoon after authorities cleaned up a chemical spill affecting the roadway.

Capt. D.J. Corcoran, spokesman for the Knoxville Fire Department, said the department's hazardous materials team was called to the scene about 1:45 p.m. after a trailer being pulled by a vehicle came loose from the bumper. Corcoran said the trailer was carrying a drain opener.

Authorities at first thought the substance was cleaning supplies.

"But then it began eating the pavement," Corcoran said.

The trailer did not include any chemical placards identifying its contents and firefighters had to rely on the van’s driver to tell them what the product was, Corcoran said.

The uninjured driver, from Denver, told authorities he was transporting the liquid to sell it at a flea market in North Carolina.

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — A Lorain County haz mat team and the Ohio EPA were called Monday night after a semi hauling two trailers, including one containing 288 pounds of corrosive liquid, overturned on the Ohio Turnpike.

Fire crews were called to the Interstate 80 exit ramp at state Route 10 in North Ridgeville about 8:30 p.m. to find one trailer on its side and another trailer containing what appeared to be paint still upright.

“When we went to the back of the overturned trailer, there was a cloud of gas and a smell of alkalide, so we called hazmat in right away,” North Ridgeville fire Lt. Greg Laborie said.

The liquid, which is used in manufacturing processes, remained in the trailer, but the hazmat team spent Thursday night assessing how much gas leaked out. Laborie said there’s no harm to anyone in the area as a result of the gas.

What could be more severe is the “quite a bit” of fuel that leaked into the drainage system below the off-ramp, Laborie said. The Ohio EPA was called out to assess how much of it flowed down the hill that the section of road sits on and whether it can be cleaned from the creek below.

“We tried to stop as much of it as possible from getting down there, but some definitely went in,” he said.

WEST SPRINGFIELD -- The Erie County Hazardous Materials Team cleaned up a small chemical spill from a tractor-trailer this afternoon in Springfield Township.

The hazmat team responded to the call just after 3 p.m. at a Sunoco gas station and convenience store at Interstate 90 and Route 215.

Crews cleaned up a caustic liquid chemical, Springfield Volunteer Fire Department Captain Luke Weldon said.

There were no injuries reported.

The driver of the double tractor-trailer was eastbound on I-90. He pulled into the Sunoco station after noticing that one of his trailers was leaking, Weldon said.

One of his trailers contained three 300-gallon barrels of the caustic liquid, Weldon said. The other trailer contained household items.

The load shifted and spilled inside the trailer, Weldon said.

Weldon said most of the chemical spill was contained within the trailer.