ELMIRA — Volunteer firefighters put out a fire at the Chemtura chemical plant in Elmira on Thursday afternoon.

The fire began around 1:15 p.m. in building 33 at the Erb Street plant. The cause “appears to be hot oil dripping on the insulation surrounding a pipe in the oil-processing section of the plant, which caught on fire,” says a statement from Woolwich Township.

The fire was put out quickly and there were no injuries.

VADODARA: Three persons were injured in an accident at Sujata Chemicals plant in Makarpura GIDC here on Saturday morning. The accident took place when an open vessel around which labourers were working fell down.

Sources said a chemical process using acidic chemicals was being conducted in the vessel when it suddenly collapsed. Two persons - Gangaram Vasava and Mangal Machhi - suffered serious burn injuries.

Stark County Hazard Materials (hazmat) specialists from around the area were called early Thursday morning to help clean up a small spill at Wheeling Lake Erie Railroad Yard in the 2800 block of Gambrinus Ave. SW.

Scott Johnson, public information officer for the Canton Township Fire Department, said a railroad worker noticed the liquid – later identified as butane – leaking from the railcar which had traveled from the Southwestern region of the United States.

“The issue was that a valve had vibrated itself open on transit,” Johnson said.

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.

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.

A potentially deadly chlorine leak at Redland Water Supply was contained Tuesday thanks to the quick action of a retired Lufkin Fire Department captain, according to a current Lufkin Fire official.
Grover Holst, now a water operator at Redland Water Supply, was changing one of the chlorine tanks with his manager, Michael Moore, when something went wrong around 11:45 a.m., according to Lufkin Fire spokesman Capt. Steve McCool. As a cloud of toxic gas leaked into the air, Holst put his HAZMAT training to work.
“I had to get an air pack and went back in to shut it off,” Holst said, taking a moment to cough. “Chlorine is pretty rough. My manager got a lot more chlorine in his lungs than I did.”
Moore was taken by ambulance to Memorial Medical Center-Lufkin because he was having difficulty breathing, McCool said. He was expected to recover.

MIDTOWN — A diesel fuel spill from a delivery truck briefly shut down the Broadway and West 57th Street intersection Thursday afternoon, fire officials said.

Hazmat crews and firefighters responded to the small spill, which happened after the truck hit a manhole just before 3 p.m., fire officials said.

The jolt caused the frozen food delivery truck's gas tank to rupture, spilling roughly 10 gallons of fuel into the street, the FDNY said.

"It was like thunder, like a boom," said truck driver, Lemec Cruz, who was on his way to Grand Central for the last delivery of the day. He felt the truck's back wheels sink into the manhole.

The intersection was closed to traffic for about 30 minutes as crews cleaned up the spill.

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - Authorities are waiting on test results to determine what was leaking out of a 500 gallon drum Wednesday morning in East Lubbock.

Hazmat was called to the scene at East Municipal Drive and Guava around 10:30 a.m.

A barrel was found there, leaking some sort of liquid onto the road. Test results will determine if and how the mess will need to be cleaned up.

Authorities are also working to figure out how the barrel ended up there.

The Greerton fire fighter hazmat unit was called to Kawerau on Monday night to assist in dealing with a hazardous chemical spill at the Norske Skog pulp and paper mill.

Black liquor, a caustic mix of chemicals used in the pulping process, was leaking from a valve.
Shutting the valve took two men wearing fully encapsulated hazard suits about 25 minutes to shut off, says Kawerau station officer Bill Rackham, but shutting off the valve was able to be done until the support crews were in place.

The Beaumont Fire Department's hazmat crew is cleaning a chemical waste leak inside of an 18-wheel tractor trailer after the rig was stopped for a routine department of transportation safety inspection.

Beaumont police officer Troy Wagner said he and another officer noticed a substance leaking from the back of the trailer during the inspection. The hazmat crew is still trying to determine where the leak is coming from as there were several blue 50-gallon drums of chemical waste that were secured inside the trailer. Hazmat crews were still trying to figure out what kind of chemical waste was leaking; however they were taking extreme precaution because of the "flammable" and "corrosive" placards on the side of the trailer to indicate the danger of the chemical waste.

HANOVER, Pa. — West Manheim Township Police charged an elderly couple with obstructing police and emergency services after they refused to let firefighters through the right of way to fight a dangerous gas leak at a neighbor's house.

West Manheim Police Chief Tim Hippensteel said the couple Nevin and Miriam Barnhart, both 79, have a 23-year history of ongoing harassment of others using the driveway at 2888 Baltimore Pike, which leads to other properties as well.

But the Barnharts say they never argued with officials, and that the issue was that the truck couldn't make the turn off Baltimore Pike into the drive without causing damage.

Police and emergency personnel were sent to 2904 Baltimore Pike on Dec. 2 for a reported natural-gas leak. The driveway between the Barnharts' property and the one next door also serves three residences, including the one with the leak, police said.

Officer Paul Heffner arrived shortly after Pleasant Hill Fire Co. led by Chief Ted Clousher and saw a person standing on the edge of the driveway, according to court documents. Heffner said he recognized the Barnharts from their "history of disorderly and harassing behavior related to this driveway," and overheard Clousher ordering them to move out of the fire engine's way.

Workers at a nearby tow truck lot thought they saw oil leaking from BRT Extrusions on Main Street in Niles.

But the black, dirt-like substance was actually industrial waste, dumped there from the plant.

"Basically what it is, is the grit from a parking lot and some of the remnants of what was left in the mill. They wanted to unclog their drains, and that's basically what they were doing," said Trumbull County HAZMAT Chief Don Waldron.

"It's a dirty black water with gravel and sludge from the storm sewer line," said Niles fire Lt. Rodney Freel.

BRT Extrusions hired an outside company to clean their drains, and that subcontractor said they didn't know they had to contain the waste. Waldron said it's technically considered open dumping, but the workers were only given a warning, and the material isn't in danger of spreading or causing any harm.

Seattle Fire has finished with a hazmat incident at the University of Washington's Henderson Hall, the Applied Physics Lab.
Sue Stangl with the Seattle Fire Department said the building was evacuated.
The problem substance is flourine gas. The gas, which is toxic, was stopped from spreading.
Seattle Fire said 3 to 4 cubic centimeters of the gas was released on the first floor lab. A lab technician said he heard a hiss, turned off the valve and left to call 9-1-1.
Lt. Stangl said the hazmat team members suited up in what is called "level A" protection and entered the lab where the gas leaked to make sure the nozzle is closed.
When haz mat crews made it into the lab, they confirmed the nozzle was closed. The amount of flourine was very minimal, according to Stangl.
The incident began at about 4:30 p.m. Friday.

A drum of furfuryl alcohol ruptured at Dow Chemical yesterday afternoon, prompting the evacuation of the main facility for about an hour, a company representative said.

The rupture was contained by Dow Chemical's emergency response team, said Kevin DeLine, site manufacturing leader.

The business moved employees from the main facility to a different building on the property until the area was secured and the air was deemed OK, DeLine said.

No one was exposed to any chemical, and there was no chemical release outside the area of the rupture, DeLine said. The business, at 455 Forest St., was cleaning up as of last night.

Dow Chemical is investigating the rupture and has not determined a cause.

Furfuryl alcohol is a raw material, one of the products that the company makes.

DENHAM SPRINGS, La (NBC33) Two crashes in less than three hours at the same spot on I-12 near the Amite River Bridge.

Authorities say the first truck, a fuel tanker, hit the railing and ran off the road. It was carrying thousands of gallons of gas.



Haz-mat crews cleared the scene and the rail was repaired just in time for another 18-wheeler to come barreling through.

The second big rig was also carrying some hazardous paint and gases when it ran off I-12 and crashed into a ditch.



The Denham Springs Police Department and State Police Hazmat crews were back on scene again to deal with the mess.

DOTD  had to close the right line of I-12 eastbound to repair the guard rail again.

Authorities tell us this is the seventh overturned truck in this area in just six weeks.

WAREHAM - Wareham firefighters responded to the 4th District Court in Wareham Wednesday, December 15, 2010, for a reported sulfuric acid spill around 10:30 a.m.

According to emergency broadcast reports, approximately one half quart of sulfuric acid was spilled in the basement of the courthouse complex. 

The courthouse was evacuated and will be closed for the remainder of the day according to the Wareham District County Clerk's Office.  There were no reported injuries.

Hazardous material crews also responded to the scene. 

FOUR fire crews spent nearly two hours clearing up a chemical spill at Tilbury Docks this afternoon (Tuesday).

Crews from Grays and Orsett were called at 3.11pm after a valve on a tank broke and ethanol, a volatile and flammable liquid, started to leak.

A spokesman for Essex Fire and Rescue described the ethanol “pouring” from the container which can hold up to 33,000 litres of the liquid.

The firefighters laid down a blanket of foam to prevent risk of ignition and contain the spillage while the Port of London Authority brought a new container to put the remainder of the liquid into.

Johannesburg - The Johannesburg Emergency Management Services Fire Safety Directorate has issued a notice to an ice manufacturer in Richards Street after a dangerous ammonia gas leak was reported on Tuesday.

"At approximately 10:00 this morning, our call centre received a frantic call from one of the business owners, operating in the same location, about an unusual gaseous odour emanating from a neighbouring factory," said spokesperson Percy Morokane.

"A Hazardous Materials Team (HAZMAT) was dispatched to the scene and all employees were evacuated.

"The team investigated, traced the source and the substance which was leaking was identified as ammonia."

The factory's manager was instructed to close the factory and he brought in their contracted technicians.

Interstate 76 was closed at Bromley Lane in Brighton for about three hours as crews cleaned an oil spill caused by a Chevy pickup that veered across traffic.

John Bradley, a spokesman for Brighton Police, said the accident happened just after 5 p.m.

A man in his 50s who was driving the pickup was in the eastbound lanes and crossed into westbound traffic, hitting a semi-trailer head on, Bradley said.

The semi-trailer — carrying two tankers filled with crude oil — "veered about 150 to 200" feet and eventually ended in the eastbound lanes and lost its second tanker as it rolled on the highway.

There is no estimate as to how much oil was spilled, but Bradley said each of the tankers had a capacity for about 80 barrels of oil.

A crude oil leak from a pipeline connected to the Lemont Citgo Refinery has roads closed and was responsible for re-routing an inbound commuter train during this morning’s commute.

Fire crews and hazmat teams are currently on the scene and assessing potential damage caused when a 12-inch pipeline broke open, said Kathy Hoffmeyer, a representative for the Will County Sheriff’s Office.

As of 1:30 p.m., the Will County Sherriff's Police had left the scene, Hoffmeyer said.

The leak, reported at about 8 a.m. this morning, closed New Avenue from Archer Avenue to 135th Street in Romeoville, Hoffmeyer said. The leak has been patched, but crews are not sure how much oil leaked or for how long it had been leaking, she added.

Route 50 was closed in both directions from Annapolis to Davidsonville for hours Sunday night while the county's hazardous material crew cleared a chemical spill near the Interstate 97 split, county Fire Department officials said.

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A DuPont tanker truck was traveling west on Route 50 near I-97 around 6 p.m. when the driver noticed a large vapor cloud coming from the vehicle, said Capt. James Rostek, a county Fire Department spokesman. The vehicle was coming from New Jersey.

The truck driver pulled over and called 911. Firefighters and paramedics found the 50-year-old driver on the roadside, sickened from fumes he had inhaled. The driver suffered respiratory problems and was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore for treatment, Rostek said.

A small vapor cloud still surrounded the truck when crews arrived.

All westbound lanes of Rt. 50 near I-97 in Anne Arundel County have been reopened after hazmat situation closed them for several hours Sunday night.

A truck driver called 911 after he noticed a vapor cloud coming from his truck around 6 p.m. Sunday.  The driver has been taken to Shock Trauma for treatment and hazmat crews are inspecting the truck to determine if the cloud is from a chemical leak or steam.

A spokesperson from the Anne Arundel County Fire Department says the truck was carrying Isopathalol Chloride, a chemical found in fiberglass.

Eastbound Route 50 was also closed for about an hour but reopened around 7:30 p.m and the westbound laned reopened around 10 p.m.

A North Bellmore family on Elbert Avenue was just trying to stay warm in their own home when their heating tank broke Saturday afternoon, drenching their basement in about 100 gallons of oil, according to North Bellmore Fire Department Assistant Chief Mark Collins.

"The tank was old," said Collins.

"We stopped the leak, and we are maintaining the situation," he added.

Nassau County Hazmat was also called to the scene a little before 3 p.m. They helped clean up the pool of home heating fuel, but a private contractor was called to finish the job, said Collins.

ODESSA - Portions of Highway 80 in Odessa have been reopened after a HAZMAT spill.

Odessa Police and Odessa Fire crews blocked off Highway 80 from Reed Road to Loop 338 after a Union Pacific railroad tank car started leaking a chemical called Xylene at the train depot on Friday afternoon.

Union Pacific officials are waiting to offload the chemical to another tanker car.

SIMSBURY – Emergency personnel responded to a chemical leak at the McLean Wellness Pool at 75 Great Pond Road at around 7:45 this morning. As of 11 a.m., fire and other officials who responded to the scene determined that the area, which is separate from the main facility, is free and clear of any potential hazard and the next step will be to fix the problem.

“Never at any time were any residents or employees of the facility in any danger,” said David Bordonaro, president of McLean.

SIMSBURY, Conn. -- Two maintenance workers were taken to an area hospital after a chemical spill in Simsbury, officials said.
The spill was reported just before 9 a.m. at the McLean Adult Day Health Care Center on Hop Meadow Road.
HAZMAT officials said the substance leaked from a nearby pipe, but was contained and no one was in danger.
Two maintenance workers were taken to the hospital as a precaution.

First responders treated a smoking semi-truck as a hazardous material scene Tuesday and shut down the Clipper Gap freeway offramp for most of the day.

But at about 4:30 p.m., firefighters and a hazmat team cleared the scene and the truck.

“The truck didn’t spill anything at all,” Capt. Bill Donovan with the Auburn area California Highway Patrol office said Tuesday.

Donovan said firefighters took precautionary measures after they received a call at about 10:24 a.m. that a semi-truck driver reported black smoke coming out of part of his trailer after he pulled off at the Clipper Gap Road exit.

At about 10:40 a.m., first responders shut down the Interstate 80 offramp in Applegate and said there was a “corrosive spillage” and were treating it as a hazmat scene, according to the California Highway Patrol’s website.

Donovan said the truck was carrying a mixed load and had a placard on it indicating there were corrosive materials inside.

Route 72 is now open after crews managed to clean up everything.

According to a county dispatcher it was 35 gallons of kerosene that spilled on the roadway.

North Lebanon Township Police are still looking into what caused the spill.

AMHERSTBURG, Ont. -- There is no risk to the public after a "substantial" chemical leak at the Honeywell plant Saturday morning, says Amherstburg fire Chief Rick Murray.

At about 6:23 a.m., Murray was notified of a hydrofluoric acid leak at the Front Road East plant. Between 45 and 100 gallons of the highly corrosive acid were released, forming a white gas cloud over the Honeywell property, he said.

The plant's mitigation system kicked in immediately, dousing the gas cloud with water and knocking it down before it drifted off the property, Murray said. The leak was stopped by 7:10 a.m.

"Everything was done according to protocol and the emergency response was executed well," Murray said.

As part of the town's emergency plan, the police chief and the mayor were also notified and the fire department's own hazmat team was on standby in case the acid leak spread beyond Honeywell grounds.

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. -- The Grand Junction Fire Department and Hazmat crews arrived at West Start Aviation Friday morning to identify an unknown chemical leaking from a vehicle.
It wasn't a West Star vehicle so employees didn't know if the chemical was dangerous to them or to the environment. In a case of safe being better than sorry, they contacted the Grand Junction Fire Department and a Hazmat crew.
The fire department showed up to analyze the chemical. They determined it was a non-hazardous, industrial rust and scale inhibitor. The source of the leak was an open valve on a tank. Fire crews secured the valve and successfully stopped the leak.

The downtown YMCA-YWCA on Argyle Street has reopened after a freon gas leak evacuated about 200 people from the building Wednesday, sending swimmers onto the street in their bathing suits.

The leak was detected in a mechanical room on the third floor of the building where sub-contractors were working to remove asbestos at about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. The building reopened just after 1 p.m.

Seven workers were assessed at the scene, and three were sent to hospital to be treated for injuries.

Traffic on Route 17 North in Rochelle Park was snarled for miles as a result of an accident between a gas tanker truck and a Lexus SUV around 3 p.m. on Nov. 10. Firefighters from Maywood and the Bergen County Hazmat team helped Rochelle Park clean up more than 40 gallons of diesel fuel that was spilled onto the highway. There were no serious injuries.

Abbotsford Fire Rescue Service helped respond to a hazardous materials incident at the Mission Recreation Centre in the 7600 block of Grant Street Thursday at 11:30 a.m. after a request from Mission Fire Rescue.

The incident involved an ammonia leak and saw crews entered the structure to locate and stop the contamination from spreading. Abbotsford Deputy Fire Chief Ron Hull said in a release that this is not the first time the Abbotsford Fire Rescue Service has responded to a request from Mission.

WICKLIFFE -- Officials at Lubrizol's facility here said that a "short duration release of nitrogen dioxide occurred" about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. The release took place in the pilot plant on the West Campus while equipment was being cleaned.


Officials say no one was injured and there is no immediate danger to the public living near the plant.

Lubrizol, working with the Wickliffe Fire Department, is now in clean-up mode.

HINCKLEY - Fire personnel from the township along with the Brunswick Fire Department responded to a chemical leak at 2 a.m. today at the Aldi distribution center, 1319 W. 130th St.

"We were there for calls of a chemical smell in the air," said Brunswick Assistant Fire Chief Rick Barber. "As I understand from Lt. Matt Payne, who was on scene, there was an ammonia spill. They use the ammonia in refrigeration tanks at the distribution facility. From what I understand, there was a malfunction of a valve causing the ammonia to spill out."

Traffic along Louisiana 182 near its intersection at Louisiana 674 is being rerouted while Louisiana State Police hazmat workers clean up a flammable material that has spilled along the highway.

State Police Troop I spokesman Trooper Stephen Hammons said a small amount of flammable material from a leaking tanker truck spilled onto the road. The tanker truck’s leak has been fixed, Hammons said, and hazmat workers will be at the scene until the road is cleared of the material.

Tauranga’s new $800,000 Hazmat Command Unit is helping to contain a hazardous chemical incident in Edgecumbe.
Fire communications acting shift manager Tony McDonald says the incident involves a Trans Pacific tanker.

He says the tanker sucked in nitric acid into its container and the chemical reaction had created plumes of noxious fumes.

A CHEMICAL leak at Hartham Leisure Centre has closed roads in the area this afternoon (Thursday November 11).
Police were called at 12.50pm after being notified of a chlorine leak at the centre in Hartham Lane.
Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue service are on the scene and the building has been evacuated for the safety of users.

A chemical spill Tuesday shut down South E Street between South Seventh and Eighth streets for nearly six hours as emergency workers contained and cleaned up the hazardous material.

Richmond police at 10:14 a.m. Tuesday pulled over a semi-tractor trailer that was leaking a clear liquid while it was traveling south on Eighth Street. A large quantity of Stencil, a cleaning solvent, spilled from the truck onto the roadway.

The Richmond Fire Department hazardous materials crew contained the leak and authorities evacuated the CountryMark gas station and made sure homes across the street were empty as they began the cleanup process. The business reopened and people were allowed to return to their homes around 1:30 p.m.

A chemical spill on the main street of Kurow was quickly cleaned up by fire crew and members of the public, police say.

Constable Craig Bennett said insecticide and herbicide spilt from two 10-litre tanks on the corner of Bledisloe St and State Highway 82 yesterday after the tanks fell out of a truck door. The latch was loose and as the driver rounded the corner, the tanks fell out and were partially ruptured when they hit the ground.

"I believe the driver stopped straightaway," Mr Bennett said. "He's turned the corner and obviously heard stuff move ... he's realised the catch of the door didn't take."

FOUR men were taken to hospital and an industrial site was evacuated after a chemical spill at a freight depot in Haydock last night.

More than 400 litres of a highly flammable chemical leaked into the drainage system of the site after two drums were ruptured by a fork lift truck at about 9.30pm on Monday.

A 300-metre cordon was put in place and fire crews were joined by the Hazardous Area Response Team at Rhys Davies Freight off Wilcock Road, Haydock.

The four members of staff were taken to hospital suffering possible chemical inhalation and the entire Old Boston Trading Estate was evacuated.

The chemical, ethoxypropionate, was contained on site by the interceptor drains.

ADAMS COUNTY - All evacuations were lifted in connection to a Commerce City hazmat situation on Friday night that forced people to leave more than 200 homes after investigators determined that an unknown substance leaking from several barrels was not a threat.

The Adams County Sheriff's Office says several barrels were found off of 80th Avenue near Monaco Street. They were found around 4:30 p.m. near an abandoned chemical plant.

Just before 9 p.m., investigators determined the substance leaking from the barrels was a petroleum-based product and was not threatening to those in the area.

Area residents had called the fire department earlier to complain about the bad smell.

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.

Neighborhoods near 80th and Rosemary in Adams County were evacuated for two hours because of a hazardous materials situation stemming from an unknown liquid leaking out of above-ground storage containers Friday evening.

The evacuation area boundaries are 80th to 86th and Monaco to Brighton Blvd. and includes about 210 people. The evacuation was cleared just before 9 p.m. Friday.

Some liquid coming out of the storage containers in a fenced-off area near a closed chemical plant prompted the hazmat investigation. There is also an unknown odor in the area believed to be connected to the barrels.

Firefighters in Cornwall have been dealing with a chemical incident after containers were found to be leaking.

About 40 firefighters attended the incident at Pensilva Industrial Estate after they were alerted at about 1530 GMT.

The fire service said the liquid has now been identified as sodium hydroxide and originated from one container.

An initial cordon of 50m (0.05km) was set up but has since been reduced to 20m (0.02km).

During the incident six firefighters wore gas-tight chemical protection suits and breathing apparatus to deal with the chemical spillage.

VICTORVILLE • Authorities evacuated some areas of Victor Valley College Monday morning after leaking gas from the welding class was discovered, San Bernardino County Fire officials said.

Several engines and a hazardous materials unit were called out at about 10:30 a.m., Capt. Tracy Carlton said.

The fire department stood by as the leaking acetylene cylinder was allowed to vent off, Carlton said. Depending on what a chemical may be, the best procedure may be to allow the chemical to vent safely into the atmosphere while monitoring it and keeping everyone else away from the location.

No one was hurt in the incident and the normal class schedule resumed after about two hours, officials said.

ST. PETERSBURG — Hazardous materials crews responded Thursday to an ammonia leak at an empty seafood warehouse that resulted in no injuries.

The incident began about 1:30 p.m. as firefighters with St. Petersburg Fire Rescue were doing a routine hazardous materials inspection at 333 16th Ave. S, said Lt. Joel Granata, a department spokesman. The building houses a processing facility for Key West Fresh and Frozen Seafood.

When they got there, the door was open and there was a strong odor of anhydrous ammonia, a toxic chemical that can cause breathing difficulties, Granata said. Hazardous materials firefighters began searching the building. They found a 14-gallon ammonia tank with about 5 gallons left in it and what appeared to be a small leak at the valve, Granata said. A total of 27 hazmat technicians from St. Petersburg, Largo, Pinellas Park, Palm Harbor and Seminole were involved.

GAITHERSBURG, Md. (WUSA) -- Hazmat crews responded to the scene of a gas leak that shut down a portion of Route 355 in Gaithersburg early Thursday morning.

A spokesperson for Washington Gas says a paver ran over a valve in a gas main causing a leak in the area of Route 355 and Professional Drive. It happened around 2:20 a.m. Fire officials say the damage occurred in a six-inch main.

A Washington Gas repair crew is still on the scene addressing the problem.

According to Montgomery County Police officials, all lanes of Route 355 were closed for a time, however, the southbound lanes were reopened fairly quickly, and one lane of northbound traffic began to move around 6:30 a.m.

AUBURN, Maine -- Auburn fire officials say several leaks on a gas tanker car were successfully shut off early Wednesday morning, five hours after they were discovered.
The leaks were discovered just after 9 p.m. Tuesday night.
Police, fire, the hazmat team and others responded about a quarter of a mile south of the Danville Junction rail yard and Old Danville Road.

Berwyn firefighters responded to the rail yards on the city’s south-east side at 9:47 p.m. Wednesday night in regards to hazardous materials leaking from a trailer.

Upon arrival fire personnel found a strong odor coming from a parked trailer.

The leak was determined to be acetone, paint thinner, methyl ethyl ketone and xylene — all flammable liquids.

HazMat technicians in full protective equipment made entry into the trailer and found minor amounts of the chemicals had spilled during the trailer’s transport.

TAMPA - Students and staff at a Tampa high school had to be evacuated earlier this afternoon after a propane gas tank started leaking outside the school's cafeteria.

Firefighters responded around 12:30 to Hillsborugh High School, 5000 Central Avenue, after a valve on top of the cylinder began to leak. A small vapor cloud could be seen just above the leak.

Students and staff were safely evacuated to the football field and no one was hurt.

Hazmat crews were able to almost completely stop the gas flow, and  other responders used gas meters to check the inside of the school  for gas. None was found

(NECN: Lauren Collins) - People in Amesbury, Massachusetts had to be evacuated from a building because of a Hazmat situation.

A one-story building was evacuated around 10 a.m. this morning. There are chemical powders inside that building, and when a sprinkler system inside malfunctioned, water fell onto some of that powder.

Officials say the powder is very violently volatile when mixed with water. It produces an explosive gas, so that building had to be evacuated.

Hazmat teams from several local fire departments are working together to secure the area.

A chemical spill that closed a port in Essex has been cleared up and traffic is back to normal.

Essex Fire and Rescue Service were called by Port of Tilbury Police when a container of paraquat dichloride fell from a trailer and was damaged.

The material is a marine pollutant and spilled in a high risk area so fire control operators sent seven fire engines to deal with the spill.

A chemical used to line sewer systems spilled this morning but crews have contained it and say it’s not hazardous.

St. Cloud Fire Department’s Hazardous Materials Team was called at 4:08 a.m. to Montrose Road and Lancewood Drive.

A trailer of styrene monomer spilled, Battalion Chief Jerry Raymond said. Crews put sand around the chemical to contain it.

Raymond said the chemical does smell bad, but it’s not hazardous to the public’s health. Firefighters are on scene waiting for a cleanup crew to arrive and remove the chemical.

Crews are cleaning up a small liquid chemical spill at the Tesoro Refinery in Wilmington apparently caused by an underground pipeline break.

Workers reported the break about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in a line carrying the refining chemical naphtha, a flammable liquid used in petroleum distillation.

Firefighters reported between 20-30 barrels leaked into a containment drain before the pipe was sealed. There were no injuries or reports of environmental damage, said Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Matt Levesque.

The refinery, located in the 2100 block of Pacific Coast Highway, produces about 97,000 barrels of gasoline, diesel and other petroleum products each day.

The spill cleanup is being monitored by the Los Angeles County Fire Department Health Haz-Mat division and the California Emergency Management Agency.

Hazmat crews are on the scene of a diesel spill in Afton in the area of Route 151 and Route 250.

Around 3:00 p.m. a tractor trailer punctured its fuel tank, pouring about 45 gallons of diesel fuel all over the road and into a nearby creek.

Crews have dammed the creek off to stop the fuel from entering other waterways. They are also cleaning up the roadbed.

Emergency crews are still trying to cleanup thousands of litres of diesel and gasoline spilled on Highway 224 between Peguis First Nation and Fisher River First Nation.
Earlier today, a fuel truck travelling north toward Fisher River rolled over, causing a massive leak.
RCMP said 15 people were forced to leave nearby residences, as HAZMAT crews worked to contain the spill.
Fuel from the overturned truck will be pumped into other trucks, and the leak has since been contained.

While Idaho's Supreme Court is in a special session to consider the safety of allowing big rigs to haul massive loads across U.S. Highway 12, crews have begun an assessment of thousands of gallons of diesel fuel that spilled from a load on Wednesday.


COURTESY OF LIN LAUGHY
The high court is considering an appeal by Idaho's Transportation Department to green light ConocoPhillips' request to haul giant drums from the port of Lewiston across U.S. 12 and into Montana. If approved, it could also clear the road for hundreds of similar shipments by Exxon/Mobil.

But while the sun was coming up on U.S. 12 this morning, hazmat crews and state police were still on the scene, where a tractor trailer failed to negotiate a curve and slammed into a rock pit. Rocks from the hillside ruptured the trailer, and more than 7,000 gallons of diesel began spilling.

The hazmat crew's main assignment: doing its best to keep the diesel from invading the Lochsa River.

October 1, 2010 (HICKORY HILLS) (WLS) -- An accident this morning shut down a busy intersection in west suburban Hickory Hills for most of the day.

A tanker truck carrying sodium hydroxide hit a utility pole at 95th Street and 76th Avenue.

The pole fell across the truck's trailer, which became tangled in power lines.

The crash caused sodium hydroxide to leak from the tanker.

Two nearby restaurants were evacuated as a precaution.

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. - October 1, 2010 (WPVI) -- A hazmat situation in Montgomery County forced the evacuation of a King of Prussia business.

Authorities were called out to an office complex at 216 Mall Boulevard around 11:30 a.m. Friday.

According to the Upper Merion Fire Marshal, a machine in the building leaked fluorine gas.

The machine is designed to shut down when this happened and also clean the fluorine out of the air.

According to the fire marshal, the machine worked properly and when they arrived on scene there were no traces of fluorine in the air.

The building was evacuated as a precaution for about two hours while MontCo Hazmat crews responded to the scene. Everyone was allowed back inside the building and there were no injuries.

Note: the accompanying picture showed the response was to a Lasik clinic

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A leaking tank of carbon dioxide that closed traffic on Barstow between Chestnut and Willow has been capped. Traffic on Barstow is now flowing through the area.

The leak prompted a hazmat response from the Fresno Fire Department. Authorities say the leaking container was a 14-ton liquid carbon dioxide cylinder.

The leak was plugged Tuesday morning. No one was injured, but police closed surrounding streets as a precaution.

Portions of U.S. 20 were closed for approximately 12 hours after a truck carrying ethanol rolled over east of the Stephenson County Visitors Center shortly after 3 a.m. Friday.

German Valley Fire Department Captain Randy Miller said the one-vehicle accident did not result in any serious injuries.

However, concerns linked to an ethanol leak drew the attention of numerous local agencies and disrupted traffic throughout the morning and early afternoon.

The Stephenson County Sheriff’s Office first received a call about the incident at 3:08 a.m. After it became clear the truck was carrying ethanol, members of the Stephenson County Hazardous Materials (HAZMAT) team were dispatched to the scene.

Local HAZMAT coordinator Scott Townsend said members of the HAZMAT team discovered minimal leaking when they arrived at the crash.

“Once we saw no breach in the tanker and established that there was very little leaking, we turned the scene back over to the German Valley Fire District,” Townsend said.

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- An overnight accident involving an overturned fuel tanker truck on southbound I-5 at S. 272nd Street near Kent had a major impact on the morning commute. Southbound I-5 was shut down for nearly 12 hours after the double fuel tanker flipped over near State Route 516.
Hazmat crews had to drain the overturned fuel taker before they flipped it upright. Crews say the task was time consuming because the tanker was carrying about 10,000 gallons of gasoline and 900 gallons of diesel.

A rail car carrying a petroleum byproduct of Marcellus Shale drilling sprung a leak in a Green Tree rail yard Tuesday evening, spurring concerns of an explosion.

Chief Daniel Walsh of the Green Tree Volunteer Fire Company said someone called 911 around 8 p.m. and said that a tank car appeared to be releasing gas at the rail yard owned by Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad on Mansfield Avenue.

Firefighters discovered that the tank's release valve had been tripped and that is releasing gas in vapor form. Hazmat teams were called in and Mansfield Avenue was closed between Noblestown Road and Holiday Drive.

Bob Full, chief of county emergency services, said the tanker was carrying a mixture of propane and butane, a highly flammable liquid. He said the leak had slowed by 11 p.m. and crews planned to remove some of the tank's contents to stop the leak.

A hazardous material emergency that forced the shutdown of the northbound I-95 Darien rest area Sunday was prompted by hydrogen peroxide seeping from a tractor trailer, police announced Monday.

Patrols from Troop G were dispatched to the service plaza around 1:30 p.m., according Lt. J. Paul Vance, after a report of an unknown liquid escaping from a parked truck.

When troopers arrived, driver Jouharian V. Khatchik of Pasadena, Calif. told them that he had been hauling eighty 55-gallon drums of hydrogen peroxide (placard #2014). Khatchik said he had stopped at the rest area and noticed the chemical leaking from the truck as he prepared to leave, at which point he called 911.

Darien firefighters, already on the scene when troopers arrived, closed and evacuated the service plaza. Responders from the Department of Environmental Protection and Connecticut Tank Removal, a company that specializes in spill response, also came to the site of the incident.

After containing the liquid, officials determined that the load of barrels had shifted inside of the trailer, forcing one of them against a protruding nail and causing the leak.

An estimated eight tons of strong acid leaked from a tank on an abandoned factory yard and flew into sewer lines, causing billows of red gases. The accident got under control after two hours' efforts by local fire-fighting and environmental staffers.

A chemical leak has forced the evacuation of 15 people in the Harbor Gateway area today, a Los Angeles fire official said.

Pressurized oil has been leaking from an unknown source in the 600 block of West El Segundo Boulevard, said Devin Gales of the L.A. Fire Department.

The CHP has closed the El Segundo Boulevard offramp from the southbound Harbor (110) Freeway to limit traffic from entering the area, according to the CHP.

VINELAND -- A chemical used in developing X-ray film caused the odor that led to an evacuation Sept. 8 at a medical office building, according to the city Fire Department.

The bromine-based chemical spilled in a storage closet in the building, part of the former Newcomb Hospital campus at State Street and Chestnut Avenue.

Fire Chief Robert Pagnini said the chemical is injected from canisters into a water treatment system.

A supply of the chemical was found once the building was vented enough for a thorough search, he said.

Bromine is reddish-brown liquid that emits a brownish vapor at room temperatures. It is a germicide, but also is useful in treating film.

Paul Simon, a South Jersey Healthcare spokesman, said the bromine was in use in an X-ray facility. Like chlorine, he said, it can irritate the respiratory system or skin if someone is exposed to it.

KNOXVILLE - Eastbound traffic on Interstate 40 at the Western Avenue and 17th Street exit was back to normal this afternoon after authorities cleaned up a chemical spill affecting the roadway.

Capt. D.J. Corcoran, spokesman for the Knoxville Fire Department, said the department's hazardous materials team was called to the scene about 1:45 p.m. after a trailer being pulled by a vehicle came loose from the bumper. Corcoran said the trailer was carrying a drain opener.

Authorities at first thought the substance was cleaning supplies.

"But then it began eating the pavement," Corcoran said.

The trailer did not include any chemical placards identifying its contents and firefighters had to rely on the van’s driver to tell them what the product was, Corcoran said.

The uninjured driver, from Denver, told authorities he was transporting the liquid to sell it at a flea market in North Carolina.

The Harrison Pharmacy School building was evacuated at about 8:45 a.m. because of a corroded canister of hydrogen chloride gas, according to the Auburn Fire Department.

A canister of hydrogen chloride, a potentially deadly gas, was found to be leaking.

“The regulator [on the canister] is stuck,” said Lee Evans, dean of the School of Pharmacy. “They had planned to remove this canister this evening. When the University was notified that we had a canister that could potentially leak, they pulled in the militia.”

All access points to the building were blocked off with yellow caution tape. An AU alert went out at 9:29 a.m. via a phone call and 9:40 a.m. via text message, warning students of a reported hazardous material release and cautioning them to avoid the area.

“This is really being extremely safe,” Evans said. “Essentially, from a safety perspective, [the University] said we need to get it out of here now.”

Safety precautions included members of the Auburn and Opelika HazMat team and Auburn Fire Department.

“They’re in level-A suits in there,” said an Auburn firefighter.

When sealed in one of these suits, the wearer is completely isolated from the outside atmosphere. The suits are composed of up to a dozen protective layers, as well as a sealed hood and respirator mask.

On a scale of one to 10, however, Evans said the event was only about a 0.5.

Lee Lamar, Auburn fire chief, said as far as they know, the canister was found to be leaking this morning. He didn’t know if they were planning to move it or not.

“This wouldn’t be standard protocol for moving it as long as it was in a good state,” Lamar said. He said at 10 a.m. they were looking at one to two more hours of cleanup.

William Ravis, professor in the pharmacy school, said the canister had been “sitting up there for years.” Arrangements were apparently made last night to remove the canister.

Officials are currently setting up a decontamination team.

The fire department will make a formal statement on the situation later in the day.

NORTH RIDGEVILLE, Ohio - Crews had to a clean up an overnight accident on the Ohio Turnpike involving two semi-truck drivers.

The accident happened on the Turnpike in North Ridgeville, near mile-marker 147

Police said a trucker traveling west bound slammed into the back of another 18-wheeler, causing the first truck to tip and spill steel pipes over the road.

The second truck—carrying diesel fuel--also crashed and gouged three deep holes in the road and spilled part of his 240-gallon tank of fuel. The fuel leaked off the right lanes of the Turnpike.

Hazmat crews were called to the scene to clean the roads, and they were also using oil absorbing booms, similar to the one used in the gulf spill, to soak the oil out of a nearby ditch.

Employees of a building owned by BellSouth in Raleigh were evacuated for a short time Wednesday due to a hazmat situation.
Crews were dispatched to 5010 Second Street around 12:31 p.m. According to officials on scene, about 10 gallons of some sort of substance spilled out of commercial batteries.
Firefighters neutralized the spill before cleanup crews worked to clear the spill.
There was no immediate danger to the public and no injuries were reported in the incident.

A small ammonia leak caused the Zero Mountain Cold Storage facility in Lowell to be evacuated Tuesday afternoon.

The Rogers and Lowell Fire Departments, as well as a Hazmat crew were called to the leak at 515 N. Bloomington St. around 1 p.m. According to an official with the company, a maintenance man was using a forklift and accidentally hit an ammonia line in the engine room. Liquid ammonia gushed out, all over the floor. The ammonia leaked out to the ventilation system.

The fire department thought about sending out a reverse 911 cal to homes and businesses in the area warning them about the leak, but decided there wasn't enough ammonia to pose a real health risk.

"Typically speaking, in an area that's as wide open as this space is here, once it escapes, it disperses into the air and isn't harmful at all," said Michael Dean with the RFD. "It's those confined spaces that we're concerned about most, so of course, it was the employees inside the plant that we were most concerned about."

PLANTATION, Fla. -- A hazardous materials crew responded to a minor spill at the Motorola campus in Plantation.

Fire officials say the spill occurred after a fire was reported Sunday morning. The fire started in a storage room where the chemicals were being kept.

No injuries were reported, and the chemicals turned out to be non-hazardous.

A voluntary evacuation is underway in an area north of Red Deer after five cars carrying propane and butane slid off the tracks Saturday morning, with one of them leaking liquid fuel.

Officials say the incident happened around 8:45 a.m. in a wooded area about two kilometres south of the town of Blackfalds.

WALNUT RIDGE — U.S. 63B near its intersection with Arkansas 91 in Walnut Ridge was closed Wednesday while Hazmat and other crews cleaned up a chemical spill in an 18-wheeler.

No one was injured, but the roadway was shut down around 12:30 p.m. and reopened about five hours later, officials said.

“It was a big deal, but it wasn’t a really hazardous situation,” Walnut Ridge Fire Chief Frank Owens said.

A barrel full of butyl acetate began to leak in a trailer being hauled. The truck driver noticed the leak and called authorities, Owens said.

Firefighters said they prevented what could have been a catastrophic chemical leak Wednesday along the Ohio River in Hamilton County.
Crews were sent to the DuPont plant on Brower Road near Shawnee Lookout Park just about 1 p.m. after a small leak was reported in a tank of sulfuric acid. Fire Chief Stephen Ober said the leak was a gas that was 30 percent oleum.
Oleum, also called disulfuric acid, is used in several manufacturing processes, including creating explosives. It's considered highly corrosive and can be an airborne health hazard under certain circumstances.

A highly toxic spill prompted the evacuation of two Baltimore office buildings.  Right now, crews are still working to clean up the dangerous spill.

The buildings were evacuated for a hydrofluoric acid spill.

The process of dealing with the acid is extremely dangerous because even one drop can lead to serious health problems.

Eleven workers in two businesses were evacuated.

"Just had to get out.  They didn't tell us any information other than we had to leave," said Michael Wooten.

Crews first thought they were only dealing with a few gallons of acid but quickly realized they were wrong.

"Evaluation by our hazmat task force revealed closer to 50 to 65 gallons spilled in an approximately 20 by 30 area," said Chief Kevin Cartwright.

Employees use acid to make etchings into stone.

VINELAND -- A sickening odor forced evacuation Wednesday afternoon of a medical office building at the former Newcomb Medical Center complex off East Chestnut Avenue and State Street.

Firefighters were called out at 4:51 p.m.

No one was hurt in the incident, which was declared contained shortly after 8 p.m.

Vineland firefighters, including the inter-municipal Hazmat Team, cleaned up an unidentified liquid.

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HAZMAT Team Responds To Health Center
Fire Chief Robert Pagnini said the initial report was that people in the Adult Medical & Specialty Care Center had heard a bang and spotted a yellowish liquid on a floor.

The spill was in a supply closet on the east end of the first floor of the building, located at 1038 E. Chestnut Ave.

After the city of Fallon declared a state of emergency on Aug. 23 when 10,000 gallons of hydrochloric acid spilled during a delivery at the water treatment facility, Northern Nevada emergency responders in addition to the community came together in an impressive response effort.

“There are very few agencies in the United States that can assess, contain and clean up a hazardous material spill of this magnitude,” said city Emergency Manager Steve Endacott. “Given this challenging scenario, this is the way it was designed to go down.”

Due to previous emergency planning, city officials were confident from the beginning the 10,000 gallons of corrosive chemical would not seep into the environment. The city installed a specialized trough beneath the hydrochloric acid tank capable of holding 100 percent of the chemical housed in the building.

“It was fully contained the first day it occurred,” said Mayor Ken Tedford Jr. “The way the building was designed worked perfectly.”