A terminal at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport was closed for a time after an unknown chemical sent five people to the hospital with respiratory complaints.

Terminal 2 was evacuated for about two hours Friday as hazardous materials technicians investigated what caused several people to become ill.

The cause remains under investigation, though an airport spokesman says it appears an aerosol can discharged.

Broward County Sheriff Fire Rescue spokesman Mike Jachles says three Transportation Security Administration agents and two passengers were affected by the irritant.

Investigators collected air samples and determined it was safe for people to re-enter. More than 1,000 passengers have been delayed and several inbound flights were diverted to other airports.

ITTSFIELD -- A Berkshire Med ical Center laboratory was evacuated for several hours Wed nesday afternoon following a chemical spill.

A hazardous materials team from the Pittsfield Fire Department responded to the hospital after a lab worker accidentally dropped a container that held the chemical formalin, which is used to preserve laboratory specimens, according to BMC spokesman Michael Leary.

"Due to the caustic nature of the material, it may cause severe eye irritation, skin irritation and it's harmful if swallowed," said Deputy Fire Chief Bruce Kilmer. "So we knew we had a definite hazmat incident, and that we were going to have to make an entry into the lab to clean it up and make air levels safe."

No injuries were reported, but the two BMC employees who were closest to the spill of less than half a gallon of formalin were taken to the hospital's occupational health center as a precaution.

Formalin, a formaldehyde solution, is considered a skin, eye and upper respiratory irritant and a probable human carcinogen after prolonged exposure.

Fire officials say they may have identified the cause of an odor that sent 13 people to the hospital and canceled classes for a local high school.

Columbus fire's HAZMAT team responded to Westland High School, 146 Galloway Rd., at about 9:30 a.m. Monday.

South-Western City Schools' Sandy Nekoloff said there was a report of an odor in a classroom.

Columbus Division of Fire Battalion Chief Michael Fowler said they believe the cause of the odor was a drip of sodium hydroxide from a boiler near an airduct system. The chemical was previously referred to as an acute airborne irritant.

Fowler said the chemical was very diluted and was used to keep pipes in the heating system clean and that the drip is the only logical cause they could identify.

SCHENECTADY — Mont Pleasant Middle School was evacuated Monday afternoon when someone unleashed what the fire chief described as a "respiratory irritant" in a first-floor hallway, according to police and school officials. The incident occurred at 2:45 p.m. after school had already been dismissed, officials said.

Even though a staff member reported the substance to be pepper spray, the chief said the fire department's HAZMAT team couldn't confirm that the gas was the foul-smelling substance after conducting tests.

"We cannot prove it was pepper spray but it may have been something similar to it," Schenectady Fire Chief Michael Della Rocco said. "We haven't been able to determine what the substance was but it did dissipate."

One city of Savannah employee was taken to a hospital after a HAZMAT incident at a water treatment facility this morning, a Savannah Fire and Emergency Services spokesman said.


Firefighters were sent to the President Street Reclamation Facility just before 10 a.m. when an employee was exposed to an irritant in a lab, said Mark Keller.


The employee was exposed to fumes of an unknown nature when she opened a cabinet in the water reclamation laboratory, and she complained of irritated eyes and a scratchy throat, said Keller. The firefighters evacuated the five employees on duty at the time and commenced a Level 1 HAZMAT operation.

 
The employee who opened the cabinet was treated on the scene and taken to St. Joseph’s/Candler for further treatment, said Keller.

he Country Fire Authority said several crews were working to contain the acid leak at the Cadbury Schweppes factory in Scoresby.

Fifteen people were originally evacuated from the factory early on Friday afternoon and workers from surrounding factories were then also evacuated.

"As the factory has released a cloud of high irritant vapour, CFA put out a warning for people to stay indoors, close all windows and turn off air conditioning." the CFA said.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Golden State Highway was closed Tuesday afternoon between Snow Road and 7th Standard Road as hazmat crews responded to a reported explosion at the Schlumberger plant on Snow Road.

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Snow Road was also closed between Fruitvale Avenue and Golden State. That closure remained in effect as of 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, though Golden State had reopened.

County fire and public health crews were faced with a fire in a tank containing the oxidizing chemical diammonium peroxidisulphate, which can be a skin and respiratory irritant. The fire released a large plume of smoke.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

EDINBURG - A hazardous mix of cleaning supplies is all cleaned up in Edinburg. The fire chief says what happened inside a bathroom in the Edinburg CISD transportation building can happen anywhere, even in your own home.

The woman is now out of the hospital. Friday morning, Edinburg firefighters rushed in to help a worker at the transportation building. The woman was having a reaction to the fumes coming from a trash can.

Lights and sirens signaled something wasn't right inside a bathroom at the building. Cleaning supplies tossed into a bathroom trash can caused it. Edinburg fire Chief Shawn Snider says with good reason.

"They can cause a lot of harm," says Snider.

The chief says the chemicals caused a reaction. The fumes or vapors coming from the trash can were so strong it caused a worker to have trouble breathing.

"It was a vapor, and it was an irritant to the respiratory system," says Snider.

Snider says this can happen in anyone's home. He says it's important to read the labels and never mix products.

"Our hazardous material entry team went in and identified the chemical and had a reaction to chlorine bleach," says Snider.

A team trained to handle these types of calls went in. Within an hour, the scene was cleared. The worker was later released from the hospital.

Firefighters found several cleaning supplies reacted with the bleach in cleaning wipes. The chief says it can happen anywhere if you're not careful. The best thing you can do is keep cleaning supplies out of reach of your children. According to the Centers for Disease Control, never mix bleach and ammonia.

Kelowna Assistant Fire Chief Jason Brolund says they got a call about a number of people complaining of sickness.

From there a Hazmat team was sent in to investigate the Canada Post building on Baillie Avenue.

"We came to learn that the postal carriers are routinely issued animal spray, as a part of their work. It's our suspicion that some of the spray may have been discharged inside the building."

Brolund says the risk was considered low but they always treat incidents like this very seriously.

Kathi Neal, a communications Manager with Canada Post says they were fortunate that the situation was handled so well.

"Luckily the emergency responders came on site so quickly and did a thorough investigation. So we felt comfortable to allow our employees back in a round 10am Tuesday morning. Now they did lose some work time, however we really are not expecting any delays of mail at this time."

Neal says two letter carriers were taken to hospital but both have been discharged and no one was hurt.

The Hampton Bays Fire Department’s hazardous materials team ran a drill at Hampton Bays Elementary School last Thursday, August 26, after responding to a minor incident there, according to John Rankin, a fire marshal who was at the scene.

Hampton Bays Superintendent Lars Clemensen said the school district called in the hazmat team after a janitor dropped an old corroded fire extinguisher in the school’s basement at around 9 a.m. and it discharged soda ash. The fire marshal’s office responded to the call and decided to use the time to complete a routine drill at the school since members of the fire department’s team were already on site, Mr. Rankin said.

Soda ash, or sodium carbonate, is a non-toxic chemical often used in the shipping of hazardous chemicals and is commonly used as a neutralizer in pools, Mr. Rankin said. The janitor, whose name was not released, was taken by ambulance to Southampton Hospital as a precaution but was not injured, according to town fire officials.

UPDATE 1:55pm - Midland Fire Department hazardous materials technicians have further identified the specific chemical compound discovered yesterday on N. Weatherford Ave.
The chemical is identified as Monoammonium Phosphate, a compound commonly used in portable fire extinguishers. Basic field analysis of the chemical was limited to identifying the compound according to recognizable trace elements. Adenosine Triphosphate Disodium Salt was the compound identified by this preliminary analysis. A more comprehensive lab analysis was able to specificly identify the chemical compound.
Around 12:15pm, on March 17, 2010, dispatch received a call for assistance from a postal worker who had come in contact with the substance. He was trasported with respiratory symptoms and has since been released from the hsopital.

Midland Fire Department officials said Thursday the white powder discovered in an east Midland neighborhood Wednesday was a compound used in portable fire extinguishers.
The powder was first reported at 10:51 a.m. Wednesday in the 1000 block of Weatherford when a mailman came in contact with the substance on his route and began having trouble breathing, officials said.
Crews shut down several blocks in the area as they investigated the scene. The mail carrier was taken to Midland Memorial Hospital, where he was treated and released. Tests Wednesday confirmed the substance was not hazardous but could have been an irritant.
Read more: http://www.mywesttexas.com/articles/2010/03/18/news/top_stories/hazmat_update.txt#ixzz0icuO4VGc