PORT ALLEN, LA (WAFB) -
One person was injured, families were evacuated and US 190 is shut down at Bueche Road between Port Allen and Erwinville due to a chemical fire.

Acetylene Fact Sheet
Acetylene is a colorless and odorless gas. Commercial grade Acetylene may have an Ether-like or garlic-like odor. It is used for welding, cutting, brazing and soldering, and in making other chemicals. Click here for more information.

The Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) has activated its Crisis Action Team (CAT) because of the fire at the Air Liquide facility.

The fire is at the Air Liquide Specialty Gases plant. It happened around 10:30 a.m. Emergency officials, along with DEQ and a hazardous material team are on the scene to control the fire.

Late Monday afternoon, firemen, company officials and State Police technicians were able to enter the hot zone in order to inspect several cylinders, which were not damaged by the fire.  Several hundred tanks were still on fire.  State Police Air Support assisted technicians in inspecting the fire from the air before crews could enter the site.

One person was taken to the hospital with injuries to their eyes. That person's identity has not yet been released. The West Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office says two tanks of acetylene exploded, however, the public relations office for Air Liquide in Houston says the tanks were empty and waiting to be filled with acetylene.

A tanker conveying cylinders filled with inflammable chemical exploded on the Lekki-Epe Expressway in the Shango- Tedo area of Lagos Friday morning.

An eyewitness alleged that a woman might have been killed in the explosion.

The fire service appears to have been prompt on the scene but there is no confirmation on casualties even though eye-witnesses confirm deaths.

Traffic was at a standstill.

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho -- Hazmat, police and fire crews have evacuated the parking lot of the old Fred Meyer where INL buses park on North Yellowstone in Idaho Falls.
Idaho Falls Fire/EMS Division Chief Dave Coffey said that a cylinder full of boron trifluoride broke, causing the gas to leak.
The gas is hazardous, but does not pose a danger to the public.
Crews took advantage of the windy weather, which allowed them to let the gas leak out and dissipate in a controlled manner.
"There's no danger to the public," Coffey said. "We want to make sure that everyone's aware of that. And this was non-radiological, just a hazardous material -- a hazardous gas, actually -- that has been mitigated at this time."
Two West One Logistics employees, who contract with the INL and manage the evacuated property, were exposed to the boron trifluoride. They were both evaluated at the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center and have since been released.

NORWALK -- Every on-duty firefighter in Norwalk fought to prevent a Wednesday afternoon blaze in a building at LaJoie's Scrap and Recycling from igniting thousands of gallons of diesel fuel and exploding containers of accelerants.

Deputy Fire Chief Ed Prescott said the fire tore through the 60-foot-by-60-foot, two-story sheet metal building that houses the mid-20th century, 20-cylinder diesel locomotive engine that powers a car shredder. The building contained about 9,000 gallons of diesel fuel as well as containers of acetylene and oxygen, fire officials said.

"Our main concern was that a lot of acetylene tanks and oxygen tanks were compromised and were fueling the fire," he said. "Our guys worked really hard to contain it to where it was and to make sure there was external explosions."

COLLIER COUNTY, Fla.- North Naples Fire Department and a Hazmat team, were called to clean up a chlorine leak, in an industrial park this morning.
 
The leak happened at 6001 Shirley Street in Naples, just south of J & C Boulevard, around 6:30 this morning.
 
An employee at Mitchell & Stark Construction noticed one of the company's outdoor chlorine cylinders was leaking and quickly called for help.

First responders were able to cap the corroded cylinder's leak.

WOODBRIDGE, Va. --
Hazmat officials responded to a ammonia leak on the 15000 block of Farm Creek Drive in Woodbridge on Friday, police said.

A pressurized 4-feet-tall, 150 pound ammonia cylinder fell off a truck at 1:32 p.m. and caused a small leak, according to Prince William Fire and Rescue Hazmat Coordinator Matt Adkins.

The neck of the cylinder broke on impact as it landed on the road.  Hazmat officials utilized various tools, such as air quality meters, to ensure the area was safe, officials said.

Adkins said that the low amount of ammonia released did not pose an explosion or other threat to area residents.  Those who lived near the incident were asked to remain where they were instead of evacuating, he added

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. — Los Alamos National Laboratory called out its hazmat and emergency response team Wednesday following a chemical reaction at one of the lab's technical areas.

Lab officials say there was a small chemical reaction in a bottle that contained a sample of liquid that had been drawn from a 60-year-old cylinder. The material flared briefly when exposed to air.

The lab says no one was injured or exposed to any hazardous chemicals.

As a precaution, Los Alamos police temporarily closed the area. One section of road closest to the technical area remained closed Wednesday afternoon.

A lab subcontractor was sampling the old cylinders in a metal enclosure when the incident happened just before noon.

The cylinders were excavated last year from a World War II-era landfill on lab property so that they could be characterized and properly disposed of.

A Menlo Park research and development company is facing nearly $56,000 in penalties for workplace safety violations following a September explosion that left one scientist dead and another with injuries.
Cal/OSHA on Thursday released the results of its investigation into the fatal blast at Membrane Technology & Research on Willow Road.
At 3:40 p.m. on Sept. 2, Adrian Martin, 55, was mixing butane, helium, nitrogen and methane in a propane cylinder with a maximum allowable working pressure of 300 psi, according to an investigation summary. The concentration of the gases, however, boosted pressure to between 700 and 800 psi.
The 15-inch-diameter, nearly 4-foot-tall cylinder exploded as Martin added more methane in an effort to achieve a 90 percent concentration of the gas, the report said. Had the San Jose resident succeeded, the pressure in the cylinder would have reached at least 1,200 psi.
Investigators also determined that the cylinder wasn't equipped with a proper pressure relief valve. The device was set to activate above 3,360 psi, more than 10 times the maximum allowable working pressure of the cylinder.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- On Tuesday, the South Bend Fire Department and Hazmat team worked for hours to control a gas leak!
Emergency crews responded to the Honeywell plant on Bendix Drive around 8:45 a.m.
Firefighters told us that a propane cylinder on a forklift started leaking under pressure.
The building was evacuated as a precaution.

Firefighters are tackling a chemical fire in a Cornwall boatyard.

Five fire crews are tackling a blaze at Islington Wharf in Penryn, near Falmouth, Cornwall Fire and Rescue said.

A spokeswoman confirmed there were chemicals in gas cylinders involved in the fire, which started shortly before 6am on Tuesday.

BBC Cornwall said there were unconfirmed reports that one or more drums of the fertiliser phosgene - which was used as a chemical weapon during World War One - were involved.

"The fire is now under control, a 100m cordon has been set up in the boatyard because of the gas cylinders," the spokeswoman added.

COLUMBUS, Georgia — Firefighters who battled a massive weekend blaze at the vacant Swift Mill in Columbus say hot spots could burn for weeks.
Fire Marshal Ricky Shores said there are no reported injuries or reports of other buildings being damaged.
The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reports that the mill went up in flames late Saturday. Firefighters circled the structure to save adjacent businesses and locomotives in the rail yard behind the old mill.
The fire was fueled by still-pressured gas cylinders stored in the building. The newspaper said an Albany, Georgia, developer owned the old mill and was preparing a renovation to convert it into lofts and retail businesses.
With flames shooting more than four stories high during the fire, authorities said embers soared overhead and raised the risk of starting fires elsewhere.
Jeff Meyer, chief of Columbus Fire and Emergency Medical Services, said the embers can travel for miles.

FOUR people needed medical treatment after inhaling fumes from a chlorine leak at South Australia's prized new $100 million state Aquatic Centre.
The Aquatic and Leisure centre was evacuated after a chlorine cylinder in a storage area was found to be leaking about 9am (CDT) today, the Metropolitan Fire Service (MFS) says.

Ambulance crews took three people to Flinders Medical Centre after they were affected by fumes at the swimming pool at Marion.

Flinders Medical Centre said it also gave precautionary treatment to a fourth person who was affected by fumes.

The swimming centre was reopened about 10.30am (CDT), after fire crews isolated the leak and ensured the area was safe for staff and customers to return to the building.

PORT ALLEN, LA (WAFB) -
Authorities reported two workers are in the hospital after a plant explosion.

They said there was a "boom" but no fire.

It happened at the Airgas plant in Port Allen around 9:45 a.m.

Fire Chief Rick Boudreaux said an "inert gas" cylinder failed, leading to the explosion.

Several other cylinders were damaged.

Three workers were hurt in the explosion, but Boudreaux said the injuries are considered minor.

A number of workers have been injured as a result of a major explosion on an industrial estate in Lingfield, Surrey, UK

Surrounding businesses and homes are reported to have shaken as three separate blasts occurred at around 11:30 am GMT on Monday 3rd October 2011 at Hobbs Industrial Estate near Lingfield. Many local workers have been evacuated as flames and billowing clouds of black smoke rise from the scene of devastation.

Six ambulances, 12 fire appliances, an air ambulance & several Police cars attended, saying that the explosion had been declared a major incident but the cause of the explosion was as yet unknown. Although it is suspected to have been caused by chemicals from recycling toner cartridges. One person has been airlifted to Kings College Hospital, London suffering from severe burns.

It is thought the fire started on the ground floor of a unit, there are large numbers of gas cylinders on the site and crews are fighting to bring it under control. 

The Kamakshipalya police on Friday arrested Srinivas Naidu, the owner of Sri Lakshmi Venkateshwara Convention Hall, where LPG cylinder blasts killed two and injured 15 people on Wednesday.

“After the incident, Naidu had fled Bangalore and had gone into hiding. A police team arrested him in Tamil Nadu on Friday,” said DCP (West) S N Sidramappa.

Naidu told the police that he had rented out the three-storey building to Dinesh Kumar nine months ago. He had also rented out a few houses attached to the hall and Kumar had stored some chemical in barrels, Naidu told the police.

ALPENA, MI (WNEM) -
A HAZMAT team was called to investigate after a suspicious propane cylinder was found under a bridge in Alpena, authorities say.

It happened at about 4:30 p.m. Thursday when officers from the Alpena Police Department noticed the 20-pound container under the Second Avenue bridge, located near Alpena Furniture.

According to a news release issued by the department, there were indications that the cylinder may have contained a hazardous material other then what it was designed to contain.

Officers then called in the Combat Readiness Training Center HAZMAT team in Alpena, who recovered the suspicious container.

A CHEMICAL leak in Sudbury has led to the evacuation of workers from a medical supply company.

The fire service sent appliances - including three HazMat vehicles - to Siemens Medical Solutions Diagnostics Manufacturing in Windham Road, Sudbury.

The Siemens building was evacuated of eight people and an exclusion zone was set up.

Two breathing apparatus teams entered the building to isolate one large Argon cylinder which was leaking into the building.

At 9.12am the fire service reported that the cylinder was now isolated.

Explosions rocked the mill outisde Cupar, after it was engulfed by flames on Friday morning.
...
One section of the mill in Cupar contained highly explosive chemicals, including an acetyline cylinder and 10,000l of fuel, firefighters have discovered. The roof of the building partially collapsed in the fire.

Fife Fire and Rescue Service received a call about the fire at the ABN Mill in the town at around 10.40am on Friday.

Ten engines from local fire stations, as well as an elevated platform, attended and around 80 firefighters battled to put out the flames in the Damside area of Cupar.

Although the flames were extinguished at around 1pm, firefighters remained at the site for several hours to assess and cool down the highly explosive materials on site.

The mill also contains 3000l of acid, while a 30,000l oil tanker nearby is being cooled after the blaze broke out.

Fire engines and a HAZMAT team remain at the scene of a fire near Newcastle where nearby residents were evacuated after a large acetylene cylinder started leaking during an industrial blaze.

The fire at Heatherbrae early on Friday was initially thought to be in a domestic garage but was in fact industrial, containing tyres and the cylinder, a spokesman for Fire and Rescue NSW said.

Ten nearby residents have been evacuated and products from the fire are affecting a nearby creek, he said.

'HAZMAT from Newcastle are at the scene and will ascertain the effect on the local catchment area.'

Chemical Leak at University of Waterloo

(Waterloo, ON –  Waterloo Fire Rescue responded to a chemical leak at the University of Waterloo Engineering building located at 200 University Ave. West yesterday evening.  

Upon arrival firefighters determined there was a nitrogen leak in an engineering lab room and shut off the leak. The cause was determined to be a faulty clamp on a nitrogen cylinder hose.

No injuries were reported. University of Waterloo police and a member of the university’s Spills Team also responded to the scene.

LAHORE: 
Two children were killed and five people suffered serious injuries in a mysterious cylinder explosion and chemical fire at a makeshift factory in a residential area in Ferozewala on Friday.
The incident occurred at the Azeem Mughal Varnish Factory, which is located amidst residential houses in Vandala Pull near Nazeer Colony. Later, residents of the neighbourhood urged the police to prevent such factories operating near their homes.
Rescue 1122 officials said they were investigating whether chemicals stored at the factory caught fire, resulting in the cylinder blast, or whether the gas cylinder explosion caused the chemicals to catch fire.

NEWARK -- About 15 employees evacuated an industrial gas product company and five workers were taken to the hospital as a precaution Tuesday night after the building's alarms were set off, a company spokesman said.
Nearly 20 firefighters, including the Alameda County Fire Hazardous Materials Team, responded to an 8:35 p.m. call from Matheson Tri-Gas Inc., at 6775 Central Ave., fire spokeswoman Aisha Knowles said.
Meanwhile, five employees were taken to an East Bay hospital as a precautionary measure and later released, Matheson spokesman Stephen Stroud said.
Stroud did not say what possible health threat prompted the employees to visit the hospital.
"We're still investigating that," Stroud said. "All I can say is there were no specific injuries at the site."
The county Hazmat team worked with Matheson personnel to identify the problem, a malfunctioning piece of equipment called a "scrubber," which cleans the air inside the facility, Alameda County fire Battalion Chief Terence Carey said.

The fire broke out in a science block at Kambrya College, Berwick, in Melbourne's southeast.

A specialist Hazmat unit was called to the scene due to concerns about chemicals in the portable classrooms.

...

CFA spokeswoman Andrea Brown said in the latest Berwick incident, callers initially reported explosions, believed to be from gas cylinders.

Fourteen trucks responded to the blaze after nearby residents raised the alarm about 9.45pm.

The fire affected six portables, four of which were destroyed.

"It was quite a significant fire, the first units saw plumes of smoke and large flames as they were mobile,'' Ms Brown said.

Fire examined the scene this morning..

Nearby resident Brett Wakeman said he raced out to the street when he heard fire trucks tearing down the street.

"There was some concern about LPG gas tank next to the building, they were directing the hoses onto that,'' he said.

"I heard on the loud speaker that they had called in the Hazmat team.