WATERBURY, Conn. (WTNH) -- State environmental investigators are investigating a factory fire that burned for days in Waterbury.

The former Nova Print & Dye factory went up in flames last month. It burned for days inside the 86,000 square foot building.

The owners had abandoned the building and left the city with a $2 million tax lien , so the city is stuck footing the bill.

Officials say there could have been any number of toxic chemicals inside the factory when it caught fire. State environmental experts are now investigating.

Federal officials were on the scene Thursday to help get rid of the rubble and hopefully redevelop the property.

Firefighters say the fire, which took hours to control, is suspicious .

Folks who live in the area said the burned out factory is dangerous.

WACO (April 18, 2012)—Two coeds who were working with chemicals including a mixture of ethanol and food dye passed out Wednesday afternoon in a Baylor University chemistry lab, but it’s not clear why.

Initial reports indicated that the two students might have been overcome by fumes, but a university spokeswoman said Wednesday evening there was no evidence of any chemical spill or of any dangerous, toxic or hazardous gasses or fumes in the lab.

The two coeds both regained consciousness and walked away from the room as the students were evacuated from the lab, the university said.

The instructor followed established procedures, opening up a vent hood and shutting off natural gas before leaving the lab, the university said.

No other classrooms were evacuated.

A fluorescent green dye found its way into a Palo Alto storm drain Thursday afternoon, triggering a hazardous materials response by firefighters.
The fire department received multiple calls beginning at 1:15 p.m. about a green sheen in a storm drain at the corner of Hanover Street and Page Mill Road, Battalion Chief Niles Broussard said.
The sheen was caused by uranine, a dye used to trace the flow of water. Contractors had been using the substance to diagnose a drainage problem at a nearby building, but it wasn't immediately clear how it ended up in the storm drain, Broussard said.
Firefighters contacted the city's Public Works Department and the California Department of Fish and Game about the 1,500-gallon spill. The substance ultimately did not pose a threat to human health or the environment, Broussard said.

DALLAS - The city said it is issuing a Notice of Violation against Medical City Dallas for releasing a bright green dye into White Rock Creek on Wednesday.

Dallas Fire-Rescue's Hazmat team told News 8 the bright green dye, which was non-toxic and biodegradable, was flowing out of a cooling tower at the hospital after contractors tested pipes.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Firefighters in Portland have rescued a man found in his bathroom with severe chemical burns on more than 70 percent of his body.


Portland Fire and Rescue spokesman Paul Corah says the 59-year-old man arrived home Friday from a week-long, out of town job. He reportedly called his wife to say he was going to try to get some grease stains out of his coat.

His wife came home Friday evening to an overwhelming odor like paint thinner. She found her husband in a bathtub soaked with what seemed to be a solvent-based chemical.

Paramedics found the man semi-conscious. Corah says they held their breath until they could move him out to the fresh air in the front yard and provide first aid.

Portland firefighter and paramedic David Paul says he and other medics wore gas masks in the ambulance while riding with the patient to the Oregon Burn Center.

Hazmat firefighters are working to identify the chemical.


Tags:
Your Comments

Atascadero police and fire say, it's now safe for people who live at Oaks Apartments to return home.
This, after many were quarantined and evacuated, after an apartment manager found a suspicious package in the pool.
It happened around 9:30 Friday morning, in the 9400 block of Jornada Lane near El Camino Real.
Atascadero Police, Fire, a hazardous materials team, the San Luis Obispo County Bomb Squad, and the FBI... all responded.
Friday, an apartment manager noticed an odd looking bag in the complex pool. He scooped it out... and investigators say, his concerns grew after seeing a water bottle... with a strange green liquid inside.
By early Friday evening, investigators told KSBY, the liquid was hydrogen peroxide, water, and some kind of green dye.

About a dozen employees evacuated a dye plant in Greenville early today after a steam line dripped onto a dry chemical, forming a vapor cloud, said Parker Deputy Fire Chief Mack Giles. Firefighters were called to Southern Weaving at 1005 W.

WATERBURY, Conn. -- A hazmat situation was reported at St. Mary's Hospital in Waterbury on Wednesday morning.
Officials from the Waterbury Fire Department said crews were at the hospital to help staff members contain a spill of dye that was being used in one of the labs.
The leak was small, according to hospital officials, and was contained quickly.
Hospital officials said a "limited number" of patients were forced to move because of the leak.
The hospital was working to clean up and dilute the spill.

VICTORIA — The chemical that turned Victoria’s Goldstream River green earlier this week has been confirmed as fluorescein.

Water samples taken Wednesday from the river and from a green-spouting fountain in Veterans Memorial Park were sent to Environment Canada’s Pacific Environmental Science Centre in North Vancouver for assessment, said Dan Gilmore, provincial environment ministry spokesman.

“Test results . . . confirm the substance causing the green colour in the river and the fountain was fluorescein,” Gilmore said.

“Fluorescein is a synthetic organic compound soluble in water and alcohol. It is widely used as a fluorescent tracer for many applications. The product itself and its products of degradation are not toxic.”

Based on the flow rate of the river, the probable concentration of fluorescein and lab results, Environment Ministry staff do not believe that fish or fish habitat were harmed during this incident, Gilmore said.