A hazmat fire was reported at Hair Systems Inc., a multinational distributor of hair products whose warehouse is located at 30 Park Ave. in Englishtown, at approximately 12:30 p.m. Friday, an Englishtown Police Department dispatcher confirmed.
...
The fire began in back of the warehouse in a section of the building called a "powder room" where some type of manufacturing or packaging was located, according to Hall. The building is mostly used for storage, little  distribution is done at the warehouse, but chemical research is done at the facility, Hall said. A vat containing an oxidizing chemical ignited in the powder room, and the fire was mostly contained to the vat.

The fireman moved the vat out of the "powder room" and used copious amounts of water to douse the flames which sparked a fire due to a chemical reaction, which Hall said was the only treatment to combat such a type of fire.

Heavy smoke conditions were observed and a decontamination trailer, supplied by Manalapan Township Fire Company #1, was activated for the fireman who directly combatted the hazmat fire.

WorkSafeBC says wood dust from pine-beetle killed timber is being investigated as a factor in a fatal sawmill explosion in Burns Lake, but stressed it’s just one of several fuel sources being examined.

Also on the suspect list are natural gas and propane.

Roberta Ellis, a senior vice-president with WorkSafeBC, said the agency took the unusual step of providing information in the midst of their investigation because of the serious nature of two recent fatal sawmill explosions in northern B.C.

“We’ve had two catastrophic explosions approximately three months apart. There’s a high level of anxiety and fear in the industry,” Ellis told reporters on a conference call after delivering information on the investigation first to industry leaders.

The investigation into the first explosion at Babine Forest Products in Burns Lake is expected to take two to three months to complete.

That explosion on Jan. 20 killed two workers and injured 19 others.

It was followed by an explosion and fire on April 23 at Prince George’s Lakeland Mills sawmill, which killed two workers and injured 22.

Some injured workers at both sites were left with severe burns.

Ellis acknowledged sawdust from dry, beetle-killed pine had been flagged for some time as a production problem for the forest industry.

But, she said, the dust from beetle-killed trees — described as drier and finer than dust from other timber — had not been identified as a special or increased explosive threat before the Babine Forest Products explosion.

Workplace safety experts are highlighting the dangers of poor housekeeping in sawmills in the wake of a deadly explosion at a Prince George sawmill on Monday.

The cause of the blast has not been determined but high accumulations of dust, which can be extremely combustible when a spark is present, were found inside the Lakeland Mill sawmill — something University of Toronto workplace safety expert Graeme Norval says shouldn’t occur.

“It’s poor housekeeping — you get piles of dust on the floor, or on the pipes, it’s dirty, the dust gets into the air,” said Norval, a chemical engineer who teaches courses in factory safety. “Once you get the dust in the air it’s like having a flammable gas mixture, and it just finds a source of ignition and up it goes.”

He said it’s just “common sense” that management should be inspecting vigilantly — “this is not new or novel.”

Two workers were killed and nine remain seriously injured from the blast that tore through the sawmill Monday. Two dozen workers had been in the factory’s lunchroom in a training session at the time.

East Peoria, Ill. —

Robby Owens found more than he bargained for when he went to retrieve his mail at 10 a.m. March 21. He was greeted by a layer of yellow powder inside his mailbox.

Owens was not alone. Four of his Fauber Lane neighbors had the same powder in their mailboxes. One neighbor also found his mail torn up and thrown in his yard.

911 clash
In this day and age of terrorism Owens took no chances. He dialed 911.

“The lady on the other end of the phone was quite upset with me,” Owens said. “She said we had called for a ‘non-emergency.’ How does she know?”

After calling a non-emergency number a Tazewell County Sheriff’s deputy was dispatched. He came out and looked at the chemical in the mailboxes, Owens said.

“The deputy said he thought it was fire extinguisher material,” Owens said, but admitted he was not sure. The deputy, he said, called the Spring Bay Fire Department and then East Peoria. Both departments said they were not equipped to handle the situation.

The Peoria Fire Department Hazmat Team was dispatched to the scene. The East Peoria Fire Department then responded, as well.

The hazmat team swabbed the material. It was found to be a caustic food processing material called Calcium hydrogenphosphate dihydrate.

“The hazmat team told us to rinse it out with water,” Owens said, and left.

Aftermath
When Owens looked up the chemical on Google he found the following listed under safety precautions:

• In case of contact with eyes, rinse immediately with plenty of water and seek medical advice

SKOWHEGAN -- A short circuit in the wiring of a fire suppression system at the Irving Circle K service station Sunday was the apparent cause of a plume of white powder released onto cars and people.

No one was seriously injured, but several people, including three young children, were taken to the hospital to be checked out for possible respiratory problems. Others were examined at the scene of the incident on U.S. Route 201, which is also Madison Avenue.

SKOWHEGAN -- One person was taken to a local hospital Sunday afternoon and several others were examined at the scene after a giant cloud of fire-suppression powder was released without warning at the Irving Circle K station on Madison Avenue, which is also U.S. Route 201.

The powerful plume, emitted from about 50 hoses installed in the roof of the fuel-pumping area, covered vehicles, people and the parking lot with a coating of white powder. The white-out obscured the busy station from view and briefly closed the road to motor vehicle traffic.

The cloud traveled to the Tractor Supply shopping center across the road, then dissipated.

Fire crews, police, emergency medical personnel and an ambulance from Redington-Fairview General Hospital were sent to the scene about 12:30 p.m.

There was no fire, and station managers were unwilling to comment on what might have happened.

Skowhegan Fire Chief Tom Keene said the chemical was a nontoxic compound that can cause mild eye and throat irritation but is not life threatening.

hese sorts of explosions have been recorded since 1785, so we now know quite a bit about the combustible properties of dust. But dust, according to the US National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), is defined as a finely divided solid with a diameter of less than 420 μm -- those are micrometres. With the rise of nanomaterials, there's a new type of dust on the scene -- and it's measured in the nanometre range.

Researchers from Dalhousie University in Halifax, in an study for the American Chemical Society's journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, probed these smaller "nontraditional" dusts to see how they compare to old fashioned wheat and sugar.

They found that the energy needed to ignite nanomaterials made of metals, such as aluminium, is less than 1 mJ -- that's less than 1/30th the amount of energy you'd need to make sugar dust explode, or less than 1/60th of the energy required to set wheat dust aflame.

"These low ignition energies may therefore allow nanomaterials to ignite due to electrostatic sparks, collision, or mechanical friction," the researchers write.

Clay, NY -- A chemical accident was reported today at a milling plant in the town of Clay.
The explosion was reported about 11:30 a.m. at Mercer Milling, 4698 Crossroads Park. Mercer Milling makes vitamin and mineral premixes for farm animals and pets.
Stephan Cert suffered a minor injury, Jeff Matuszczak, assistant general manager
of the company, said this afternoon. Cert was taken by ambulance to St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center, where he was treated and released, Matuszczak said. Cert has returned to work, he said.
Matuszczak said Cert was injured in a minor chemical reaction at the plant.
"It's something we handle on a routine basis," Matuszczak said. The plant will be down for couple of hours, he said.
There was no smoke or fire visible when firefighters arrived, Moyers Corners Deputy Fire Chief Stephen Zaferakis said. "However, we did have a dust in the air."
Plant workers told the chief that a sulfur product was being mixed at the time of the reported blast. County fire investigators were on the scene to determine whether there was an explosion or fire, Zaferakis said.

CLEVELAND (WRCB) - A fire at the Duracell plant in Cleveland is now out.

Dispatch says the call came in around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.

The fire started in the dust collector.

Fire fighters are now involved with a "labor intensive overhaul" of removing debris.

EMS did treat two fire fighters on the scene who were overwhelmed by strong fumes.

"All fatalities most likely resulted from secondary explosions and fires," pointed out a representative from the Chemical Safety Board regarding the Imperial Sugar Explosion.  

An investigation by the CSB blamed housekeeping specifically piles of highly combustible sugar dust at unsafe levels that needed just one spark.

But to date, nothing has been done by the government to prevent a repeat. Congressman John Barrow has co-sponsored legislation three times, each time getting held up in a committee or voted down by the senate.  Last year, Congressman Jack Kingston told News Three he was still dedicated to the cause.

"We're still voting yes because we think that pushing the dust regulations through, it keeps the pressure on OSHA and the other federal authorities on jurisdiction to make sure that this thing is done," says Kingston.  

But that didn't seem to happen.  Instead, according to OSHA's regulatory agenda, combustible dust standards are on the backburner.

COLEBROOK - The owner of the Black Mag plant in Colebrook, where two men were killed and one severely injuried in a 2010 explosion, has been indicted on manslaughter and negligent homicide charges.

Craig Sanborn was indicted by the Coos County Grand Jury in connection with the May 14, 2010, explosion that killed Jesse Kennett, 49, and Donald Kendall, 56. A third employee was injured in an explosion at the plant that once produced gunpowder.

The explosion at Millennium Design Muzzleloaders plant in the Colebrook Industrial Park rocked downtown Colebrook. Coos County Attorney Robert McKeel said the indictments handed down late Friday.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials said they were not aware of the plant before the explosion, but afterwards concluded there were huge safety problems and blamed Sanborn, who denied being at fault.

An OSHA investigation determined that the workers had been required to hand feed powder into operating equipment. Following the investigation, OSHA issued the plant 54 workplace safety and health citations with penalties totaling $1.2 million.

Hazmat crews in Palm Beach County have suited up at least six times in the past three months to determine whether white powder found in letters, on an airplane and even in an envelope from India contained anthrax - the cause of a Lantana photo editor's death more than 10 years ago.

While the spate of recent white powder incidents might seem to signal they are increasing, the number has remained about 300 incidents per year nationally since 2008, according to FBI statistics.

Recent incidents at the state attorney's office in West Palm Beach and the Ocean Ridge home of Vice President Joe Biden's brother drew more notice, authorities say

"The ones recently are a little more high-­profile," said Boynton Beach Fire Rescue Chief Ray Carter. "So they attract a little more attention."

Though a few powder incidents are deliberate hoaxes or threats, most are unintended and harmless, fire-rescue officials said.

Two workers in York County are rushed to the hospital after inhaling a powder.

Both workers were treated and released, but the ordeal caused a four hour hazmat incident.

An employee at Engle Machinery in Manchester Township found the powder-like substance on an unopened box around 730 Wednesday morning.

A company official says that worker, and another employee, became ill when they took the box outside and the substance became airborne.

Hazmat teams were called in, ran tests and found the powder was only dangerous because it became airborne and was not handled properly.

The substance was determined to be similar to what is used in swimming pool filters or pesticides. Hazmat crews cleared the scene before noon and the company is operating as normal this evening.

Nilfisk Industrial Vacuums is reminding manufacturers that snow and ice are not the only elements that will be of worry this winter as the season of combustible dust incidents also approaches. The risk of a dust explosion increases when low humidity levels, like those seen in winter months, make dust easy to disperse and ignite. In fact, industrial accident investigations by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board found that seven out of eight fatal combustible dust explosions from 1995 to 2009 occurred during cold winter months when these weather conditions were most prominent.

One man was taken to the hospital with burns on Friday afternoon after a grain elevator explosion in Faulkton.

Faulk County Emergency Manager William McKeon said the explosion occurred at about 1:30 p.m. at North Central Farmers Elevator.

"It was a flash fire or dust fire, we're not sure," McKeon said late Friday evening.

One employee suffered burns, McKeon said. The employee was taken by helicopter to a hospital, but McKeon did not know where.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board will lobby the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to publish proposed safety rules within the next year to help prevent combustible-dust accidents after such incidents killed several workers in Gallatin last year.

A final report was released Thursday morning detailing the agency’s investigation of three fires at the Hoeganaes iron powder manufacturing plant in Gallatin that killed a total of five workers last year. The three fires at the Hoeganaes facility occurred in January, March and May 2011.

The safety board said at a Nashville news conference that new, tougher OSHA standards should be fashioned to specifically include safety measures to control metal dust such as the materials associated with the Gallatin accidents.

January 5, 2011, Nashville, TN – The U.S. Chemical Safety Board today released its final report on three accidents that occurred in 2011 at the Hoeganaes powdered metals plant in Gallatin, Tennessee. Flash fires and an explosion killed a total of five workers and injured three others.

The CSB investigation found that significant amounts of fine iron powder had accumulated over time at the Hoeganaes facility, and that while the company knew from its own testing and experience with flash fires in the plant that the dust was combustible, it did not take the necessary action to reduce the hazards through engineering controls and basic housekeeping. The investigation also found that Hoeganaes did not institute procedures such as combustible gas monitoring or provide training for employees on avoiding flammable gas fires and explosions.

Of late with the rising incidents of fire accidents in pharmaceutical factories the safety concerns have become a serious matter of debate. There has been a succession of fire accidents happening in chemical factories in and around Hyderabad.

Last week if it was an explosion in a chemical factory which killed 4 people in Green Park at Polepalli Pharma Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Jadcherla, two days later, the explosion of a chemical reactor had charred the bodies of two employees in a huge fire at a pharmaceutical company at Patancheru about 50 kms from Hyderabad.

The fire broke out at the chemical factory of Rantus Pharma in Pashamylaram industrial area of Patancheru in Medak district. The factory was completely gutted. Two employees working at the factory did not return home. Their families lodged a complaint with the police. Investigators found skeletal remains of the missing employees in the rubble. The dead have been identified as stores manager Ravindranath and worker Ram Singh.

Earlier it was believed that only six workers had been injured in the fire. According to police, the fire engulfed the factory after a reactor exploded due to an electrical short-circuits. The fire broke out and spread to neighbouring factories. Fire-fighting personnel battled for five hours to control the flames.

“It is high time that the pharmaceutical companies should take utmost care and precautions to avoid any kind of fire accidents. Otherwise it gives a wrong impression to the world and may compel investors to look out for other safer zones. Already the pharma industry is moving a bit slow due to agitations locally and economic slow down in the international markets,” said an industry analyst.

For worker and operator who are working in chemical factories near reactors or blast furnaces they should be mind full of accidents and always be alert and cautious. Because in most of the chemical factories and chemical reactors there are possibilities of explosions from uncontrolled chemical reactions due to overpressure or due to release of energy from exothermal reactions (a result of mechanical damage or corrosion).

The worker should also be cautious and take precautions against exposure to hazardous substances due to a sudden release of toxic materials from reactors due to the work-related accident or as a result of human error.

Exposure to high temperatures and heat-stress from chemical reactors and exposure to carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic substances present in the reactor or released from the reactor during cleaning and maintenance work may also cause catastrophic damage to the working force in the chemical factories.

Exposure to substances that can harm the nervous system and exposure to suspended dust PM10 can give rise to respiratory diseases.

BRUNSWICK — Nine employees of a Dunkin' Donuts were taken to area hospitals Sunday morning after a white powder was found in the cash register, fire officials said.

The incident triggered "a full-blown hazmat response" at the eatery on Hoosick Street, which remained closed all of Sunday, according to Assistant Chief Steve Willson of the Brunswick Fire Department No. 1.

Firefighters from his company, as well as Troy and Hoosick Valley, responded to the 8:50 a.m. call. Employees in the restaurant said a white powder emerged when they cracked open a roll of pennies, prompting feelings of nausea.

Willson said the employees were completely decontaminated — their clothes were removed and they took special showers at the scene — before they were taken to St. Mary's and Samaritan hospitals for evaluation. None were admitted, Willson said.

The powder was taken to a State Police lab for testing, and the restaurant remains closed pending the result. Willson said they originally came from a local bank, which rolled them on behalf of an elderly customer.

A package of potent curry powder forced the evacuation of a western Sydney mail centre last night, the ABC has reported.

According to the ABC a number of postal workers were overcome with sore throats, coughing and wheezing after examining the package about 7.30pm.

Hazmat, fire and rescue teams, police and paramedics were called to the scene.

About 150 workers were evacuated from the centre as specialists wearing breathing apparatus examined the parcel.

But what was feared to be a chemical attack turned out to be a pack of particularly spice curry powder.

A small fire broke out Monday afternoon in a dust collector at the Ray Nixon Power Plant.

The fire was reported around 1:15 p.m. and was quickly doused by extinguishers inside the power plant, said Dave Grossman, a Colorado Springs Utilities spokesman.

The fire started in a machine that collects dust from machines that transport coal within the facility, which is south of Colorado Springs.

No one was near the blaze when it ignited, and there were no reports of injuries.

Despite a long history of emergency response calls to Hoeganaes’ Airport Road facility, the Gallatin Fire Department failed to enforce its own fire code and conduct ongoing inspections related to combustible dust-producing operations at the plant, records show.

The City of Gallatin has adopted the 2006 International Fire Code as the standard it enforces. Chapter 13 of that code is a one-page document that outlines in general terms how fire departments should handle facilities that produce combustible dust, such as Hoeganaes.

The chapter says two things: that open flames or the use of spark-producing equipment is prohibited in areas where combustible dust is stored, manufactured, or handled; and that accumulation of combustible dust in buildings should be kept to a minimum, and removed in such a way that would not cause it to be suspended in the air.

Hoeganaes Corp. officials knew of serious safety hazards in their Gallatin metal-powders plant at least as early as 2008 after an insurance audit raised questions about combustible dust but did nothing to eliminate the problems before a series of flash fires this year killed five workers and injured at least four others.

That was the conclusion of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board’s probe into the three accidents, presented Wednesday night during a public meeting in Gallatin.

The latest accident, on May 27, which fatally burned three workers, was started by a hydrogen explosion inside the plant that occurred because of a corroded pipe, and the safety board investigators found that the company had no inspection or maintenance program in place to keep pipes carrying the extremely flammable gas from leaking.

ATCHISON, Kan. - Most of the workers killed in a grain elevator explosion in Kansas were men younger than 25, reflective of the workforce that experts say in the norm in an industry that involves a lot of physical labor and tends to be dangerous.

Farmers take their grain to elevators to be stored and sometimes processed before it's marketed or sold. Fine, highly combustible grain particles flow through the buildings as corn and other grain are moved, and a mere spark can ignite it and send a pressure wave that detonates the rest of the floating dust.

Six people died and two others were seriously injured in the blast Saturday at the Bartlett Grain Co. elevator in Atchison, about 50 miles northwest of Kansas City. Conditions inside the facility, including unstable concrete and steel beams, prevented search crews from finding three of those killed until Monday.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Six workers in the administration and research building of the Portland VA hospital in Southwest Portland were isolated after suffering some kind of skin irritation injury, according to Portland Fire and Rescue.

Spokesman Paul Corah told KATU News four workers reported the injuries after opening an envelope just after 4:30 Wednesday afternoon. Those workers were isolated, and the building's ventilation system was shut down.

Initially, Portland Fire and Rescue said the envelope contained a white powdery substance. But Mike McAleer, spokesman for Veterans Hospital, said it was his understanding it was not white powder.

The workers suffered from burns on their faces, mouths, eyes and hands, according to firefighters. McAleer said the employees were treated with soap and water, which was enough to alleviate the pain.

In addition to the four workers, two members of the security team, who reported similar injuries when they checked on the situation, were also isolated, Corah said.

In total, McAleer said five to eight employees were affected. He also said no patients were at risk.

To determine what it is, the substance is now in the hands of the FBI crime lab.

HASTINGS -- An explosion at the new Whelan Energy Center 2 power plant near Hastings caused some damage but no injuries.

A small amount of coal dust in a silo at the plant ignited and caused the explosion about 4:15 a.m. Thursday, said Steve Cogley, customer relations coordinator for Hastings City Utilities, which operates the plant.

"It's widely known that any type of dust, whether it be coal dust or grain dust, can be highly combustible given the right or wrong circumstances," he said, adding that the source of ignition is under investigation.


Cogley said the silo was nearly empty in preparation for a planned outage that was to have started at midnight.

A chemical used in saltwater pools spilled Friday afternoon in northwest Visalia causing roads to be closed and a hazardous materials team to clean the mess.

A caller told Visalia Police Department that a white powder had fallen from the back of a pool-cleaning supply truck westbound Goshen Avenue at Akers Street. Because the caller couldn't identify the powder, Visalia firefighters were called at about 2 p.m.

When they couldn't identify the powder that had spilled from two clear plastic bags, Battalion Chief Danny Wristen called in the city's hazmat team to investigate.

"We have to rule out everything. If it's toxic, it can be fatal in large amounts," said fire Capt. Ray Ramirez. "Inhaled or absorbed in large amounts, these pool chemicals can be very dangerous."

After analyzing the powder, a hazmat team determined it was sodium chloride, which is most often used in saltwater pools as a chlorine substitute. Fire Capt. Darrin Hughes said about 20 pounds of the chemical spilled from the truck. The company or the driver of the vehicle could be responsible for the cost of cleaning up the spill, including the cost to pay at least 15 firefighters, two motorcycle officers, two ambulance paramedics and supplies used in the clean-up processes, Ramirez said.

The first happened a little after noon when a reported dust explosion injured a 46-year-old man.

Ottawa fire officials reported a fire in a factory warehouse at 5663 Doncaster Rd. and said it was evacuated after a possible explosion.

About 25 firefighters extinguished the blaze and about a dozen emergency workers with the Hazmat team were called in as a precaution.

The man was treated by paramedics for second-degree burns to his torso and third-degree burns to back and legs. He was then transported to hospital in critical condition and has since been upgraded to serious condition.

The factory is run by Masterloy Products Company, which makes iron alloys.

Police have determined that an incident that sent 10 people to the hospital Friday morning from a plant in Covington resulted from the accidental release of a battery chemical.

"We're getting good news, that this is not a contaminant, a foreign agent placed inside the battery," Covington Police Capt. Ken Malcom told Channel 2 Action News. "It was just an accident, an explosion within the contents of the battery."

The incident happened at Pure Talk, a phone manufacturing company on Lochridge Boulevard. Malcom said around 2:30 a.m. Friday, an employee opened a package containing batteries. Two of the batteries were fused together, and when an employee separated them, a white powder was released.

"This employee immediately started feeling a burning sensation on the hands, a numbing sensation" on the eyes and skin, Malcom said. "Immediately the other employees in the business began feeling similar effects of exposure to this powder."

COVINGTON, Ga. -- Investigators are trying to figure out who deliberately left behind a white powdery substance at a Newton County plant. Now, nearly a dozen people are sick.
Ten people from the Pure Talk battery company are recovering at the Newton Medical Center. Police said all 10 are being decontaminated after being exposed to a white powder around 2:30 a.m.
Investigators said one of the employees at the company received a box full of cellphone batteries and two of the batteries were fused together. They said the employee tried to separate the batteries and a white powder was released.
Nine other employees were exposed to the powder, investigators said.
Those employees started complaining of burning eyes, burning skin and numbness in their hands, according to authorities.
Police said the employees drove themselves to the Newton Medical Center emergency room where they are currently being treated.
Convington police said there was a note attached to the box, leading them to believe this was a deliberate act.
Copyright 2011 by WSBTV.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

BOWLING GREEN — Two academic buildings on Bowling Green State University’s campus were temporarily closed Wednesday after a chemical spill investigation that revealed no danger.

The sciences building, where the custodial staff mopped over a powder that turned brown in a classroom, and the nearby psychology building were closed for several hours as a precaution, said Bonnie Blankinship, a university marketing official.

A hazardous-materials crew and the Bowling Green Fire Department investigated the spill. It is unknown whether the spill was accidental or intentional, he said.

DENVER -- A woman who went to clean up a room at a west Denver hotel Thursday afternoon was sickened by a noxious odor, firefighters said.
Firefighters were called to the hazmat scene at the InTown Suites at 2900 W. Hampden Avenue around 1 p.m.
Denver Fire spokesman Phil Champagne said crews responded after a maid discovered a white powdery substance in one of the guest’s suites. The powder gave off a repugnant odor that made the maid sick, he said.
Firefighters evacuated the east wing of the third floor as a precaution.
Champagne said the powder was a combination of homeopathic and prescription drugs that the guest in the room was taking. He added that the man was very ill and was being treated for an infectious disease.
Champagne said there was nothing illegal or dangerous about the situation and firefighters cleared the scene.

GALLATIN, Tenn. (AP) — Three workers have been critically burned in an explosion at a Middle Tennessee chemical plant, and federal investigators are on their way to the scene.

The Friday morning accident that injured five total is the third this year at the Hoeganaes (HAY'-gan-eez) Corp. plant where a January flash fire killed a worker. The Gallatin facility makes metal powders and the two previous accidents occurred after flammable dust accumulated in the air and combusted.

The plant already was under investigation by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board. An investigator criticized the company two weeks ago for not adequately addressing the danger posed by the dust.

A case of illegal dumping at the Claiborne County Landfill is under investigation by the Claiborne County Sheriff’s Office and the Office of Emergency Management/Homeland Security.

Friday afternoon, the Claiborne County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to the Landfill on a possible meth lab located inside a trash bag.

When officers arrived on the scene, they located a yellow powdery substance and other chemicals that were not related to a meth lab but chemicals that are used in a chemistry lab.

Officers then called Claiborne County Emergency Management Director David Breeding and along with South Claiborne Volunteer Fire Department who was staged at the scene.

The area was treated with extreme caution due to the chemical, potassium dichromate, being highly toxic and flammable when placed in moist areas.

A man badly burned Sunday when some powder ignited at his home had some items that when mixed could be hazardous, a Murrieta police sergeant said.

The man, who has tentatively been identified as Miles Lowenthal, 56, came out of his rented home in his underwear and told his fiancee to get him to a urgent care center.

Police were directed to the home about 2:30 p.m. by the fiancee, who flagged down an officer as she drove the man to an emergency room.

Officers cordoned off the block, evacuated the homes on either side of 29638 Big Dipper Way, and called for an air ambulance to take the man to a burn unit.

Murrieta police Officer Jim Gruwell told Patch that investigators searching the home found the items that could prove to be hazardous if mixed.

Lowenthal's fiancee, Sandra Collette, said her man told her he was trying to "get rid of some ammo."

WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - Customers at the Pride gas station on Riverdale Street in West Springfield were surprised Tuesday afternoon when their cars suddenly became covered in white powder.

The powder is a fire extinguishing chemical that is sprayed from the canopy when the fire suppression system is activated.

There was no fire reported at the station, and West Springfield firefighters are trying to figure out what caused the system to go off.

MAYBROOK – Fire in a large filtration system at Eastern Alloys in Maybrook required the use of dry chemical agents to put it out.

The 35 foot high tower which contains cotton filters caught fire while it was shut down for maintenance Thursday, said Maybrook Fire Chief Charles Woznick.

Because of the presence of zinc dust, firefighters could not use water to fight the flames so the Stewart Airport Air National Guard’s Fire Department was called in with its dry chemical extinguishing agents.

No one was injured and all of the employees were evacuated.

OMAHA, Neb. -- Authorities said no one was injured in a fire at Great Plains Polymer after flames broke out in the chimney Thursday.
According to Assistant Fire Marshal James Gentile, the call came in shortly before 4:30 p.m. Because the fire involved a magnesium product, firefighters had to use chemical extinguishers to battle the flames, officials said.

DOUGLASS (Mont.) — An investigation is under way to determine what caused a Wednesday morning fire at a metal manufacturing plant on County Line Road just outside Boyertown.

Emergency responders were dispatched to Cabot Inc. for a blaze that broke out in a chemical dust collector shortly before 10:30 a.m.

Tim Knapp, manager of safety, health and environment for Cabot, said crews had the fire controlled and out within five minutes after arriving to the scene, giving an all-clear at around 11 a.m.

The dust collector where the fire began contained tantalum, a chemical used in the company’s metal manufacturing process, he said.

Although it was initially thought dust had escaped the plant during the fire, Knapp said it was only smoke, not chemicals that were released into the air.