The third floor of a building on the National Naval Medical Center campus was evacuated around 2:30p.m. Wednesday after reports of a suspicious odor, according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue.

A county hazmat unit as well as federal NavyMed rescue personnel responded. The third floor of the building -- Building 70 -- was ventilated after a product was found to have spilled inside a chemical closet in a lab area, according to Capt. Oscar Garcia, a county Fire and Rescue spokesman. Garcia didn't know what the product was, though he said it appeared to have been stored properly.

LORAIN — Several Mercy Regional Medical Center staff members were evacuated yesterday after alarms sounded at the hospital at 10:55 a.m. indicating a hazardous material leak.

The alarm indicted there was a high level of ethylene oxide leaking in the sterilization area. However, hospital spokeswoman Kasha Frese said no leak was found and no one was injured. She called the incident a false alarm.

Lorain fire Capt. Dennis Livchak said the area contains equipment used in the sterilization of surgical equipment. Livchak said there is a bank of cylinders in that room containing the ethylene oxide, which has a high risk of fire and exposure hazard, which is why an alarm is used in the area.

Concerns of cyanide exposure forced fire officials to temporarily block access to the Peter Lougheed Centre hospital Saturday night.

Police said a man moseyed in just after 7 p.m. carrying a container he claimed was filled with cyanide — a chemical compound used for various applications, but more commonly known as an effective killing agent.

“He just wanted to know where to put it, he didn’t know what to do with it,” said Insp. Jim Rorison.

The Calgary Fire Department dispatched a hazardous materials team that partially blocked entry to the hospital while they investigated.

Richmond HazMat crews investigate a fire at a VCU Medical Center building downtown.

Just after 3:15 am, firefighters were called to the 1200 block of E. Marshall Street to the Medical Sciences building for a fire alarm.

When fire crews arrived they found a piece of equipment that was labeled "radioactive" smoking. Eight people were quarantined for possible radiation exposure.

HazMat crews determined that there were not any heightened radioactive levels, and the material inside the machine was not released.

A Seattle Fire hazmat team responded to a chemical leak at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center Friday night — but by the time they arrived, the leak of a chemical gas had already cleaned itself up.

Seattle Fire spokeswoman Lt. Sue Stangl said part of the hospital was evacuated at about 9 p.m. Friday near a room where ethylene oxide, a chemical used to sterilize medical equipment, is kept. In the event of a leak, a system in the room generally detects the substance and sets off an alarm, starts its ventilation system and automatically cleans everything — which is exactly what happened.

Twenty-five firefighters were called to a health centre laboratory in Oxfordshire following a chemical leak.

A strong smell of ammonia was reported from a laboratory fridge in the Windrush Health Centre, Witney. It was then evacuated.

Three people were checked over by paramedics after breathing in fumes during the leak on Wednesday at 1500 GMT.

The fridge was removed by specialist crews who ventilated the building.

A specialist environmental protection unit was also called to the scene as well as two fire engines, before the centre reopened two hours later.

EIGHT people were given medical treatment following a chemical leak at Russells Hall Hospital last night.

West Midlands Fire Service was called to the hospital following the chemical incident in the ground floor laundry.

Alongside fire crews, the Service's hazardous specialist also attended to help contain the clear chemical liquid.

Fire fighters and nurses also treated eight people who were suffering from mild eye irritations as a result of the gas being released from the chemical.

An unintentional discharge of pepper spray sent two patients from the Harmon Medical and Rehabilitation Hospital to the emergency room Monday.

Eric Poleski, battalion chief for the Clark County Fire Department, said a call for emergency respiratory care came around 11:30 a.m. at the hospital, 2170 Harmon Ave.

Although initial reports varied about how many were affected, he said 20 people were treated for respiratory irritation. A personal pepper canister appeared to have been accidentally discharged in a nursing area.

"Nothing intentional or malicious," Poleski said.

Five ambulances and Metro's Hazmat unit were on the scene, he said, and crews used gas and electrical fans to ventilate the affected area. Two female patients were transported to Desert Springs Hospital for non-life threatening symptoms, Poleski said. The spill has been cleaned up, and the hospital has resumed operations.

Leavenworth firefighters responded Saturday to Cushing Memorial Hospital for a smoke odor that turned out to be the result of a chemical reaction, a Fire Department official said.

No injuries were reported. The incident was reported at 4:35 p.m. Saturday at the hospital, 711 Marshall St.

The chemical reaction was caused in a laundry room by a leaking bleach solution coming into contact with plywood, according to Assistant Fire Chief Mark Nietzke.

“It charred the wood and the wood started burning,” he said.

Nietzke said he doesn’t know if the chemical reaction produced any flames.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- An Orange County hospital was on lockdown Tuesday afternoon because of a hazardous chemical.
Hospital officials said the lockdown was ordered at Dr. Phillips Hospital's emergency department after a patient arrived and said she had been exposed to the chemical.
"That patient is being treated. No patient care within the hospital has been affected," Dr. Phillips Hospital spokeswoman Katie Dagenais said.

EVANSVILLE, IN (WFIE) - Fire fighters have a bit of a mystery on their hands, after a curious smell gets people coughing at an Evansville plasma center.

It happened at the Octapharma Plasma center on First Avenue Wednesday afternoon.

People inside the building called dispatch to complain about a smell that was making them cough.

The building was evacuated of the 20 or so people inside.

HAZMAT crews from the Evansville Fire Department came to investigate and found nothing.

The building was given the all clear after about an hour.

A day after evacuating a 200-metre area around a Radisson Drive home for what later turned out not to be a public safety hazard, the fire department said it acted prudently.

Homes and schools were cleared after medical staff believed they had come into contact with organophosphate after treating an elderly man.

Officials were worried the man was exposed to the deadly chemical and others could be at risk, too.

"I think what you do is deal with the information you have at the time," said spokesman Brian McAsey.

"That information told us there might be a great risk to human health and life and we went about doing our protocols. I think we did the right thing."

UNIVERSITY CITY - November 6, 2010 - (WPVI) -- Firefighters responded to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for a jet fuel leak.
The call came in around two o'clock Saturday morning... a Pennstar medical chopper was leaking fuel on the helipad atop the hospital.

Investigators say some kind of mechanical problem caused the fuel leak.

Firefighters contained the leak, and hazardous materials crews brought in oil-dry to soak up the spill.

Fire Crews from Kilmarnock and Maybole tackledf a chemical spillage within an Intensive Care Ward within Ayr Hospital, Dalmellington Road at around 6.45pm on tuesday night
Upon arrival Firefighters assisted hospital staff in the immediate evacuation of patients to a safe area, and requested the attendance of Strathclyde Fire & Rescues Technical Support Unit.
Firefighters wearing Chemical Protection Suits and Breathing Apparatus identified and sealed a leak of Ammonia which was released from a refridgeration unit within a compartment close to the ward. The refridgeration unit was removed from the premises and the ward was fully ventilated.
A total of eight hospital staff were taken to the Accident & Emergency Department at the hospital, upon compaining of minor breathing difficulties and headaches.

LOS ANGELES—One person has been hospitalized after a possible chemical leak at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Hollywood.
Fire officials say the purported leak was reported shortly before 6 p.m. Friday. A strange odor made several people feel sick while workers were sanitizing equipment.
The condition of the hospitalized person wasn't known.
Firefighters don't know the source of the strange odor nor the type of chemical.

The Pikes Peak Regional Medical Center in Teller County was evacuated Wednesday afternoon after a small chemical spill in the lab.

About 50 patients and employees were removed from the hospital and the adjacent medical center around 1 p.m. after a spill in the lab caused concern vapors would get into the ventilation system and cause skin irritation, said Sheryl Decker, Teller County administrator.

Patients were placed in ambulances to keep warm while the Northeast Teller County Fire Department and Regional Hazmat team worked to clean the spill and clear the air. People were returned to the building around 2:30 p.m.

Patients and staff at North Country Community HealthCare evacuated the building Monday afternoon after a chemical spill.
According to information from the Flagstaff Fire Department, six units from the fire department, a total of 17 firefighters, responded to the clinic on North Fourth Street at about 3 p.m. on a report of a chemical spill of phenol.
Phenol, when it turns to a vapor, is toxic and can cause extreme cases of injury and death, according to the fire department.
Andrew Saal, chief medical officer at the clinic, said the building was evacuated once the spill was reported. Hazardous Materials crews in protective gear went into the building, isolated the spill and ventilated the building.

Patients were among 80 people evacuated from the Gold Coast Hospital after a chemical gas leak on Friday.

Firefighters were called to the hospital in Southport at about 9.45am (AEST) after staff complained of fumes coming from a fire-proof cabinet.

The chemical vapour is thought to have been xylene, a solvent used in the printing, rubber, and leather industries, a spokeswoman for the Department of Community Safety said.

Level two of the hospital was evacuated of 80 people, including patients.

Firefighters in splashsuits isolated the spill and contained it.

Crews monitored air quality before declaring the scene safe just after noon.

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC-TV) – A man was sickened by a product Friday morning, which then caused four hospital workers to be overcome.

The 62-year-old man came to the Veterans Administration Medical Center about 7:30 a.m. Friday.  At the time, he was vomiting and complaining of nausea and difficulty breathing.

According to VA spokeswoman Willie Logan, the four employees immediately began feeling nauseous from an odor coming from the patient.

"We did have two employees to go home because of overwhelming fumes," Logan said. "We had two employees to stay here, but they were cleared and have gone back to work and the patients admitted to the ICU and we are watching the patient."

The patient was cleaned and put in the intensive care unit, Logan said.  Meanwhile, authorities did not have to evacuate the hospital, but they had to move some patients around as a precaution.

"I guess they had some kind of plastic stuff over him," witness Joy Spee said. "They had him wrapped up. I guess he had a lot of fumes on him. I guess they didn't want anybody else to get sick."

A hazardous materials team was sent to the man's home to find what sickened him.

COMMOTION and chaos ensued on Pond Street today as patients and staff from the Royal Free Hospital were evacuated, following a chemical incident in the MRI unit.

A spokesman from the London Fire Brigade said at the scene that it was a "confirmed chemical incident". The emergency services had been called as the hospital had been unable to identify a smell which had been present throughout the day.

Mitchell Daniels, 32, said "I was in the hospital and I could smell something horrible as soon as we walked in the main entrance. The smell was dirty, unclean and unhygienic-like a gone off dustbin. When we came out of the hospital and tried to get back to the car everything had escalated. There was commotion everywhere."

Alarms were sounded twice at the Pond Street hospital over the incident at the MRI unit.

Edward Hospital in Naperville was placed on a hazardous material alert early Friday afternoon, after a plastic bottle containing an ammonia-based solution apparently exploded in the hands of a schoolgirl in unincorporated Will County near Plainfield.

The mother of the unidentified fifth-grader from Creekside Elementary School brought her daughter to the emergency room of the hospital, at 801 S. Washington St.

» Click to enlarge image

Naperville police and fire officials stand outside the Edward Hospital emergency while the Naperville hospital was on "Orange Alert" on Friday during a hazardous materials response.
(Terence Guider-Shaw/For Sun-Times Media)

Preliminary reports indicated the girl and at least some emergency room personnel had been overcome by fumes or sickened by the contents of the bottle, which the girl's mother had brought into the building with her.

A "Code Orange," or hazardous situation, alert was sounded over the hospital's intercom system. Naperville Fire Department officials then sent that agency's hazardous material truck to the hospital's emergency room parking area.

CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio -- The Pickaway County haz-mat team is called to the Berger Hospital for a hazmat spill Wednesday afternoon.

There was a minor spill of Phenoyl Airborn, a chemical used for cauterizing during surgery.

The spill happened in a contained 3-by-3 feet area.

The hazmat team  is treating the scene with extreme caution.

CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) ―
A HazMat team is on the scene of a compressed oxygen leak at Saint Elizabeth Hospital Thursday afternoon.
A Level 1 HazMat team was called about 2:30 p.m. Thursday to 1431 N. Claremont Ave., Fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford said.
The precautionary call was for a possible leak to the compressed oxygen tank to a tank outside in the parking lot of Saint Elizabeth Hospital, Langford said.
No injuries have been reported and no buildings are being evacuated, Langford said.

ROCKVILLE, Md. - The emergency room at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital has reopened after a hazmat scare Wednesday.
Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Captain Oscar Garcia says a man walked into the emergency room shortly after 5:30 p.m. complaining of an itchy arm after opening an envelope and seeing a white powder inside.
The man was isolated in a room in the emergency room and the contents of the envelope were placed in a sealed bag.
A hazardous materials team investigated the substance and found it non-toxic.
The emergency room was on lockdown for 90 minutes while hazmat teams investigated.

Vancouver Police closed down streets for a time Wednesday evening so they could dispose of a potentially explosive chemical.
Police were notified by staff from a medical building at Broadway and Fir that they had a small amount of picric acid that may have aged to the point where it had become unstable. The Bomb Squad removed the acid from the building and safely disposed of it.
Like TNT, picric acid is explosive but can also be used in a variety of medical tests.
There were no injuries.

A medical office building at Delnor Hospital in Geneva was evacuated Tuesday after a "minor" hazardous materials spill, firefighters said.
No injuries were reported in the incident, which happened around 12:19 p.m. at 351 Delnor Drive, when a nurse practitioner bumped into a container of formaldehyde, spilling about 2 ounces, hospital and fire officials said.
"Following the correct procedure, she left the room, put a towel under the door, evacuated the office and called the fire department," Deputy Fire Chief Jerry Koster said.
Hospital spokesman Brian Griffin said about 100 people were evacuated from 16 medical offices in the building.
Koster said people were allowed back in about two hours later, after a hazardous materials team cleaned up and investigated.
"It was a relatively minor spill," Koster said. "But until we get it assessed and know what we're dealing with, we err to the side of safety."