A mercury leak inside a century-old clock at Charlestown’s Boston National Historical Park prompted a Level 3 hazmat response by Boston firefighters today after one worker came in close contact with the toxic silver liquid, officials said.

The incident started when a museum specialist, while categorizing and photographing an early 20th century grandfather clock, noticed roughly “two tablespoons” of mercury oozing from the artifact and, as a precaution, called the fire department, said Sean Hennessey, spokesman for the Boston National Historical Park.

A hazmat crew responded to the Third Avenue warehouse around 11:39 a.m., and quickly downgraded their response once they realized the minor spill was under control and no evacuation was necessary, said Boston fire spokesman Steve MacDonald.


One worker who came in close contact self-decontaminated, MacDonald said, simply by thoroughly washing his hands.

Hennessey said the clock contained two small vials of mercury which help balance its swinging pendulum. At some point, one of the vials cracked, and when the specialist moved the clock to take another photo, he saw the leak, Hennessey said.

MONROE — Hazardous materials crews have been called to deal with a box of broken thermometers found in a metal trash bin at a Michigan hospital.

Monroe police Sgt. Charles McCormick IV tells The Monroe Evening News (http://bit.ly/I88I9R ) the roughly 2-foot-by-2-foot box contained several thermometers that apparently broke and spilled a small amount of mercury.

Cleanup teams were sent to Mercy Memorial Hospital in Monroe today to dispose of the toxic chemical. Monroe is located near the Ohio border about 35 miles southwest of Detroit.

The Monroe fire department cordoned off a 150-foot area of the trash bin that’s located on the side of the hospital building.

Two high school students were sent to a hospital because they showed “medical symptoms” after a mercury spill Friday morning, said Charles County Public Schools spokeswoman Katie O’Malley-Simpson.

She did not know what the symptoms were, or where they were sent, but said they had been observed by nurses and emergency medical technicians at Maurice J. McDonough High School in Pomfret. They were sent for treatment as a “precautionary measure,” O’Malley-Simpson.

The incident began Friday morning when an old heating or air-conditioning unit part broke open during an occupational training class at Robert D. Stethem Educational Center in Pomfret, O’Malley Simpson said.

The part contained mercury, which spilled onto the floor. The student who dropped the part, with the help of a friend, cleaned up the spill themselves. When a substitute teacher learned what had happened, he ordered the teenagers out of the classroom, she said.

They were then bussed back to their respective home high schools. Most of the 16 students attend McDonough, but a few attend Henry E. Lackey in Indian Head and Thomas Stone in Waldorf. In addition, one student each attends La Plata and Westlake in Waldorf, she said.

At McDonough, the two students who were later sent to a hospital went to the nurses’ office and reported their exposure. On the advice of firefighters who happened to be visiting, school officials declared “shelter in place,” status, meaning that for the most part students and staff did not leave their classrooms, O’Malley-Simpson said.

McDonough and the Stethem students have been examined for mercury contamination, and none was found, O’Malley-Simpson said. Their shoes were bagged and examined by a fire department hazmat team or a Maryland Department of the Environment inspector and tested before being returned.

MONROE, Mich. (AP) — Hazardous materials crews have been called to deal with a box of broken thermometers found in a metal trash bin at a Michigan hospital.

Monroe police Sgt. Charles McCormick IV tells The Monroe Evening News (http://bit.ly/I88I9R ) the roughly 2-foot-by-2-foot box contained several thermometers that apparently broke and spilled a small amount of mercury.

Cleanup teams were sent to Mercy Memorial Hospital in Monroe on Tuesday to dispose of the toxic chemical. Monroe is located near the Ohio border about 35 miles southwest of Detroit.

The Monroe fire department cordoned off a 150-foot area of the trash bin that's located on the side of the hospital building.

Kimball Hall was closed Friday morning due to a “very minor” chemical spill of mercury, according to Claudia Wheatley, deputy University spokesperson.

“It looks like something terrible happened, but it’s a small amount of mercury,” Wheatley said. “They operate under, ‘better safe than sorry.’”

Wheatley compared the chemical spill to a scene in the movie Monster’s Inc., when one of the characters “comes out of the room with a sock on his back” and is treated as if he had been contaminated with a deadly virus.

“That’s kind of how it was,” Wheatley said of the spill. “It was nothing.”

or the second time this week, Hazmat teams in Pickering have removed mercury that was discovered in areas where children play.

On Wednesday morning, a mercury “spill” – from a cracked vial – was found in a Dumpster on the property of Holy Redeemer Catholic elementary school on Liverpool Rd. in Pickering, said Sgt. Nancy van Rooy of Durham Regional Police. Mercury was also found on a utility pole on nearby Luna Crt.

The school did not have to be evacuated and no one was exposed to the mercury, van Rooy said.

On Monday, the Hazmat team was called in when a citizen reported that children had been in contact with a suspicious substance on a playground slide at Kinsmen Park, on Sandy Beach Rd., not far from Lake Ontario. The park remains closed.

A small plastic vial was found empty and the substance was tested and confirmed as mercury.

No one was injured in either incident.

Federal and state environmental officials have discovered a potpourri of thousands of pounds of chemicals – many of them potentially hazardous – at a Tacoma Tideflats site that was engulfed by a sudden fire March 28.

Those chemicals, most of them stored in two old trucks untouched by the blaze, included 15 pounds of mercury, several hundred pounds of highly flammable sodium and mildly radioactive uranium.

That site at 4111 E. 11th St. near Marine View Drive drew some three dozen firefighters and a dozen pieces of equipment when it burst into flames about 10:30 a.m. The smoky fire destroyed a single-story house used by a chemical recycling company and threatened a nearby warehouse and two trucks used for chemical storage.

Firefighters initially attacked the fire in the house but withdrew to defensive positions when it became apparent that the building and the surrounding areas contained unknown quantities of chemicals. The site is in an industrial area adjacent to the Hylebos Waterway, but homes are atop a hill overlooking the site.

When the fire department received the call, responders thought the site might be a pallet-recycling company. Later investigation showed the site was used by a company, NW Chemical Recycling, to repackage surplus chemicals for sale.

Neighboring businesses said workers from the company told them the fire had begun with a flaming can of paint. Later investigations showed the blaze started when sodium chlorite that was being repackaged into smaller containers burst into flame. The chemical is used in bleaching and stripping of pulp and paper, among other uses.

A six-ounce bottle of mercury discovered in the Beaumont area triggered a hazardous materials response Monday, Riverside County Fire Department officials say.
A Beaumont resident found the mercury while cleaning out a friend’s barn in unincorporated Cherry Valley, Beaumont city spokeswoman Darci Mulvihill said. The resident took the bottle home and contacted authorities about how to properly dispose of it.
A Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department hazmat team responded about 3:40 p.m. Monday to the 1100 block of Wellwood Avenue. The toxic material didn’t spill, and no injuries were reported.
Mercury is a highly toxic element that, depending on what form it is in and how long a person is exposed, can damage the immune system and nervous system or cause tremors or other problems.

Spring break started a day early Friday for Bayfield Middle School students.

A student at Bayfield Middle School dropped a small vial of mercury at school on Thursday, releasing the substance. He had broken into an old thermostat switch in a middle school locker room and removed the mercury vial, according to Troy Zabel, superintendent of Bayfield schools.

On Friday afternoon, the Environmental Protection Agency site coordinator, Durango Hazmat, and Upper Pine River Fire Protection Agency personnel said EPA air quality tests show readings well within the protective health levels throughout the Bayfield Middle School building with the exception of Room #111, where the spill occurred, according to a press release from the school.

CALDWELL COUNTY, NC (WBTV) - A hazardous materials team responded to the Caldwell County Sheriff's Office Monday morning, after what appears to be a mercury spill.

A deputy responded to a call about a suspicious bag on the side of Dry Ponds Road. The caller thought the bag might contain drug paraphernalia.

It turned out to be an abandoned diaper bag. The deputy took it back to the training room at the Sheriff's Office, opened it and started to look inside. Nestled inside with clothes and other items was what appeared to be about an ounce of mercury.

Mercury is known to be toxic, so when it spilled onto the floor, the room was quickly cordoned off and HAZMAT was called.

A Hazmat team was dispatched to an Abingdon elementary school Thursday morning for a report of a chemical spill. School officials confirmed the chemical was a small amount of metallic mercury.

No classes were disrupted.

A sink was being removed in the nurse's suite at William S. James Elementary School in Abingdon and there was a "minor chemical spill," according to Harford County Public Schools Manager of Communications Teri Kranefeld.

A "very small" amount of mercury was found in water in the trap of the sink and leaked out when the sink was removed for replacement, Kranefeld said.

BUCHANAN — A mercury spill in a classroom at Buchanan High School Wednesday morning resulted in the evacuation of a majority of students and a visit by state and Berrien County Health Department officials and the county Sheriff Department’s Hazmat team.

There were no reports of injuries. Students in the classroom where the spill occurred were moved to a separate classroom for examination, Sheriff Paul Bailey said, but others were dismissed without their shoes which were left behind for fear they might contain contaminants.

Bailey commended the school for taking precautions to make certain the mercury was contained.

The sheriff said the student who had the mercury attends 8th grade and had a vial of the substance in his backpack. Classes were dismissed and students allowed to leave, except in the room where the spill occurred, because the student with the mercury had been in other areas of the building prior to the spill and there was a possibility the mercury might have leaked from the backpack, Bailey said.

ALBANY — City police are treating the discovery of mercury in Albany Medical Center's cafeteria as a criminal matter, saying there is a possibility that the toxic metal was intentionally placed in the hospital's food.

The criminal investigation, which is being aided by State Police and the FBI, began Friday night, when a hospital employee found a tiny metal ball on her food tray that was tested and found to be mercury, said Officer James Miller, a city police spokesman.

The cafeteria was quickly closed as a hospital's hazmat team combed the room, where they found more minuscule balls of mercury in food containers and other portions of the cafeteria, Miller said.

Miller could not say how much mercury was found, but said the fact that the rare metal was found in the food is the reason why law enforcement is considering that the chemical was specifically placed there.

ALBANY — Police are investigating a mercury spill at the Albany Medical Center cafeteria, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The spill happened Friday afternoon, and police are investigating how mercury wound up in the hospital cafeteria in the first place.

Sue Ford, an Albany Medical Center spokeswoman, said it is unclear how or where in the cafeteria the mercury was discovered, but the hospital's trained Hazmat team responded immediately upon notification and is continuing to work with authorities to investigate.

The cafeteria will remain closed pending further investigation.

BROADWATER Sugar Mill was evacuated yesterday afternoon after some of the highly-toxic metal mercury was spilt.

At 2.30pm yesterday, NSW Fire and Rescue rushed to the Pacific Hwy mill where a large amount of mercury had leaked out of a container.

A NSW Fire and Rescue spokesman confirmed that HAZMAT personnel had cleaned up 900 ml of mercury that had spilled outside the factory.

It's believed the spill occurred when a container of mercury was dropped, the spokesman said.

Five other "older" containers of mercury were also collected by the HAZMAT crew and placed in a hazardous material bin and handed back to the mill to deal with.

A government guide to cleaning-up mercury declares a spill larger than two tablespoons as "large" because of the increased risk of mercury vapour exposure during the clean up.

OREGON, Ohio (WUPW) - Hazmat crews had to be brought in after a small mercury spill Monday at the Oregon Clinic on Navarre Avenue.

Oregon fire officials say that a blood pressure cuff fell off of a cart, onto the carpeting, and the mercury inside leaked out.

There were about 20 people inside of the clinic and they had to be evacuated for a short time.

FORT LAUDERDALE-HOLLYWOOD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Fla. (WSVN) -- Hazmat crews needed to respond to a South Florida airport after a dangerous chemical spill.

Officials believe a vial of mercury spilled in the customs area of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Friday.

Hazmat crews were called out to clean up the mess.

ABILENE, Texas -- The Abilene Fire Department has responded to a contamination spill in Abilene.
Abilene Fire Chief Ken Dozier said that a blood pressure machine was leaking mercury at Cardiology Consultants, 1201 N. 18th St.
Dozier said the contaminated area has been sealed off and that officials were working to clean up the spill.
Dozier said there were no injuries.

Today a HAZMAT incident occurred at the ECPI in Chesterfield county, confirmed Lt. Jason Elmore with the Chesterfield Fire Department. 

A thermometer broke inside a classroom and spilled out onto a desk and the floor.

There were 10 students that had to be isolated and examined for exposure. All of the students were reported to be fine, and there was no need to transport them for further medical help, said Elmore.

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) - Hazmat teams have responded to a second mercury spill in the past 24 hours.

15-year-old Damien Piechota told 22News that he and his mom were cleaning in the basement of their house at 43 Davenport Street in Chicopee when a 60-year-old bottle of liquid was knocked over.

They called the Chicopee Fire Department and he and his mom were told that the bottle contained mercury.

Damien was given a clean bill of health and his mom is still being checked.

Orica's safety record is being described as a disgrace after yet another incident at one of its sites.

For nine hours yesterday morning, mercury vapours exceeded the licensed levels at the chemical company's Botany site in Sydney.

The environmental regulator says the risk to health was low, but is deeply concerned about Orica's repeated transgressions.

Yesterday's incident was Orica's third mishap in New South Wales in less than two months.

First there was a leak of hexavalent chromium at the Kooragang Island plant in Newcastle on August 8, then a release of arsenic in the Hunter River.

Yesterday the company revealed mercury vapours at its Botany site in Sydney's south-east had exceeded the licensed levels from midnight to 9.00am (AEST).

JUPITER, Fla. -- A tipped over piece of medical equipment caused quite a scare Friday morning in Jupiter.
A hazmat crew suited up to clean up mercury spilled in a second-floor cardiologist's office at University Commons, WPBF 25 News reported.
A spokesman said an employee accidentally knocked a blood-pressure monitor off the wall, spilling mercury in the office.
Only one person was exposed to the toxic heavy metal, but cleanup is tedious and is expected to take several hours.

TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) – A daycare has been posted "unfit for human habitation" after a mercury spill on Thursday.

It happened at The Gingerbread House Too on Ryan Road.

A worried Latasha Pettaway was carrying her daughter away from the day care, with the four year-old dressed in a hazmat-type suit.

"They had to take all their clothes off and throw them away and put them in the shower," Pettaway said.

Her daughter had to be decontaminated after fire investigators say a staff member brought in an old blood pressure monitor for show and tell, the kind that has mercury inside a glass tube to take the reading.

A child was on a rocking chair and rolled over the tube while it was on the floor, causing the tube to burst and pellets of mercury to spill out. Some of the kids walked through it and another even picked it up.

Toledo Fire Department Battalion Chief Gerald Takats said it got worse when staff members tried to get rid of it. "They folded up the carpet it was on and took it to the front door but by doing that, they spread the contamination from front to back."

Half of the kids had unsafe levels of mercury on their clothing so all 30 children and four workers had to be decontaminated. That meant cold showers and follow-up readings by paramedics. Those came back negative for mercury and fire officials say there are no concerns about nerve damage or neurological problems often associated with exposure to mercury.

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio -- Hazmat crews were in Springfield on Wednesday at a home on Casilly Street to clean up mercury.
The last set of renters at the home contracted mercury poisoning. They have since moved out.
The Clark County Health District and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency called in the federal EPA to clean up the house.
:Paul Atkociunas of the EPA said, "There's a lot of visible beads of mercury on the floor of the basement. We started to address that. We've vacuumed the floors. A lot of materials downstairs like the wood have porous surfaces."
At last check, the mercury levels in the house registered 50 times the amount considered safe for humans.

Hazmat was called to a home in 12800 block of Terrace Pass just after midnight where they found three pounds of mercury spilled onto the garage floor.
The team was only able to handle a small part of the cleanup because of the large amount of mercury.
"The hazmat team made entry and attempted to clean it up, but it was just too much to clean up," Capt. Troy Teague, with the San Antonio Fire Department said.
Now the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality will work with the home owner's insurance company to find a contractor to complete the clean up.
The hazmat team said mercury is very difficult to clean up because the small liquid particles can easily vaporize, and the chemical exposure could be dangerous.
The homeowner was taken into custody, but later released.
Authorities say the homeowner won't face charges, but he will likely face a big bill. The city of San Antonio can charge him for the time hazmat was at his home. For six vehicles, that will run around $18,000.

CLOSTER -- A man cleaning out a Chestnut Street home spilled liquid mercury on his hand and was hospitalized Saturday, police said.

     David Russell was cleaning out the home where an elderly relative had lived until dying recently. Around 11:30 a.m, he came upon a container filled with mercury, police said.

     Russell spilled the mercury on his arm, and became concerned that the liquid metal might poison him. He called police, which in turn sent a Hazardous Materials Unit to the home.

     The hazmat team tested the mercury and cleaned up the spill. This grade of mercury did not appear to be particularly dangerous, police said, but Russell was taken to the hospital as a precaution.

     Mercury is a naturally occurring element that is found in water, soil and air. It is often present in fish and animals, and in high doses, can be dangerous. Children and unborn fetuses are particularly susceptible to Mercury poisoning.

     Mercury is often used in such household items as thermometers, batteries and lightbulbs.

Symptoms of Mercury poisoning include skin rashes, tremors, and headaches.

“It’s more than just a neat thing to play with in your hand,” Caldwell Fire Chief Mark Wendelsdorf said. “It’s a chemical, and when it gets out of its container and you’re exposed to it, it can create health problems.”
The Southwest Idaho Hazmat team, based in Caldwell, gets more calls to respond to mercury spills than any other hazard, Wendelsdorf said, or about six to 10 calls in the last year.
When household mercury spills, often from broken thermometers or barometers, it can release toxic vapors. And people without proper knowledge of how to clean mercury spills can spread the toxic substance instead of removing it.
“Just cover it with a towel and call us or 911,” Wendelsdorf said about mercury spills. He said mercury that spreads can cost thousands of dollars to remove.

HAZARDOUS materials experts have closed a Teralba scrap metal yard after a drum containing mercury was spilled this morning.
No one is affected by the spill of the highly toxic substance.

A small amount spilled onto the clothing and boots of a worker.

It is understood the mercury may have been spread around the site by trucks soon after it was spilled, about 11.30am.

The area has been isolated and specialist HAZMAT firefighters are working to clean up the contaminated area.

LOVES PARK — Harlem Middle School students are back in their classrooms this morning after being evacuated after a mercury spill.

A thermometer broke while a student was using it shortly after 10 a.m., exposing the student and the teacher who helped clean it up to mercury, said Loves Park fire Chief Phil Foley.

Students were evacuated for about 30 minutes while firefighters inspected the scene. The room was locked down, and the hazardous-materials team was called in to make sure the chemical was completely cleaned up.

“Mercury is like melted lead,” Foley said. “It just bubbles everywhere.”

The teacher and student washed their hands immediately upon exposure, Foley said, and were later checked by paramedics to confirm they didn’t have any trace amounts of the toxic chemical left on their skin.

Four children have been taken to hospital as a precaution after fears they may have come into contact with waste chemicals near a dental practice, police said.
Firefighters said they were called to reports of a spillage of mercury capsules at the dentist's surgery in Market Place, Whitburn, West Lothian, at around 5.20pm.
But Lothian and Borders Police said there had been no spillage and it was thought youngsters may have been contaminated with traces of chemical residue from waste products at the rear of the dental surgery.
A spokeswoman for Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service said earlier this afternoon: "Four children and one adult were taken to St John's Hospital. Two pumps and other specialist vehicles were sent to the scene. They cleared up the spillage."
The Scottish Ambulance Service said they were called by the fire service and sent two ambulances and four specialist vehicles to the scene.
"There was a report of a chemical spillage," a spokesman added.
A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police said tonight: "Ambulance and fire and rescue services were in attendance and the four children were taken, purely as a precautionary measure, to St Johns Hospital in Livingston. They were shortly thereafter reunited with their parents. No medical treatment was required.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Bill Williams Elementary School will be closed Tuesday following an incident Monday in which 30 students were exposed to Mercury.

According to a city fire spokesman, one class was quarantined after a student dropped a vial of Mercury. Bakersfield Fire responded with its Hazardous Materials Team and later brought out a decontamination trailer to treat the affected students. Environmental Health also responded and the students were released to their parents after being checked out.

"They had to get us out of the classroom and then wash our feet and hands and put on booties," said Williams student Trisha Uziah. "Then they had to use a monitor to see if there was any mercury left on us."

Mercury is the only metal that is liquid in its natural state. It is highly toxic, especially if ingested. The element is commonly used in thermometers, barometers and other scientific apparatus.

District assistant superintendent Gerrie Kincaide said the school will be closed Tuesday on the advise of Environmental Health. That will allow investigators time to assess other classrooms to make sure exposure levels are as they should be. If it turns out they're not, it will allow enough time for proper treatment.

No illnesses were reported. It's not believed that students will suffer any ill effects from the exposure.

A STREET in Southend had to be cordoned off after a mysterious mercury spill.

Police had to shut off Chelmsford Avenue at 12pm on Saturday after the chemical, which is highly poisonous, was found on the road.

One fire crew from Rayleigh Weir attended the scene and had to wear special protective masks and clothing to suck up the mercury, which was scattered over a two foot section of the street.

A specialist waste disposal team was also at the scene to take away the chemical before the road was reopened shortly after 1.10pm.

A hazardous materials incident at Alberni District Secondary School required the assistance of the Port Alberni fire department.

Fire personnel responded to the high school at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 24.

Upon arrival firemen found that a small amount of mercury had spilled in a second floor science lab.

“Some students were using an instrument when a small amount of mercury released from it,” , assistant fire chief Chris Jancowski said.

School staff quickly evacuated students from the room then sealed it off and ventilated it.

MOUNTAIN HOME -- School administrators say they quickly closed the doors at Mountain Home High School Tuesday morning to keep students from getting inside and risking exposure when a small mercury spill was discovered.

Authorities say nobody was exposed, no injuries reported.

Students heading to class in the morning were surprised to hear school was canceled.

"I was driving to school and my sister was getting all these text messages saying there's no school," said Junior Courtney Frink. "I said: 'what? There's no snow. It's a beautiful day'."

Administrators were taking no chances when a custodian notified them of the mercury spill that came from a leaking or broken barometer in a lab room.

A mercury spill at Mountain Home High School prompted the evacuation of the main school building followed by the cancellation of all classes Tuesday morning.
A barometer in the school's chemistry room reportedly fell and broke on the floor, spilling "an absolute large amount of mercury," said Police Sgt. Rick Viola from the Mountain Home Police Department.

The barometer was used the previous night by Boise State University instructors to teach a chemistry class at the high school.


Emergency crews discuss plans on dealing with a mercury spill in the high school's chemistry classroom Tuesday morning. Photo by Brian S. Orban
[Click to enlarge]
According to initial reports, the broken barometer was discovered by school faculty around 7 a.m. Tuesday and was covered by rags. Students that arrived early at the school were sent to the annex area as a precaution. By 7:15 a.m., school officials decided to cancel all classes at the school.

FLINT, Mich. -- The Genesee County hazmat team responded to an emergency call Thursday morning that ended up involving a dropped thermometer.
Officials said the Flint homeowner dropped the mercury-filled thermometer inside her home in the 2300 block of Ohio Avenue just before 5 a.m.
She called 911, where operators alerted the fire department who then called in the hazmat team in.
Officials said most of the mercury evaporated, but plans are in place to have the health department brought in as a precautionary measure.

MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (WSVN) -- HazMat crews arrived at a South Florida airport Sunday to contain a hazardous chemical.

The incident occurred Sunday morning in the customs area of Miami International Airport. Police said a passenger had Mercury in their luggage, and it spilled.

Haz-mat crews were called to the scene to contain the chemical.

Officials said operations at customs were not affected.

Three of dozens of Wayne County bridges seeping mercury will get attention right away under an agreement signed between the state, the county and Occidental Chemical Corp., the state announced Friday.

Aside from the bridges, additional parts at the Wayne County Highway Department yard will be dealt with, according to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

The bridges will be removed or the mercury contained.

"We believe these bridges were constructed of former mercury cell parts from a chlor-alkali plant," Environment and Conservation Deputy Commissioner Paul Sloan said in an e-mailed announcement.

Some chlor-alkali plants produce chlorine and caustic soda using a process that employs "mercury cells" and leaves elemental mercury residue.

The scrap metal that ended up as the small Wayne County bridges may have originally been discarded cells from the 1960s used at a plant in Muscle Shoals, Ala., now owned by Occidental, according to the state.

Hays Parks Department personnel had an unexpected encounter with a hazardous material Wednesday afternoon.

During cleanup of the abandoned wastewater treatment plant in the 1500 block of U.S. Highway 183 Alternate, a piece of equipment was knocked over and about a quart of mercury spilled out.

According to Hays Fire Department Chief Gary Brown, the mercury was used as a bearing lubricant in an aeration arm of a settling tank.

"When the plant was abandoned, nobody ever took the mercury out of the pivots and as they were working in there, they knocked over one of the pivots and the mercury spilled out of it," Brown said. "We cleaned it up and got rid of it."

After the spilled mercury was cleaned up, the hazmat team drained the mercury from the second pivot.

"The city of Hays operates the regional hazmat team, so we mobilized our folks and went down there," Brown said. "We cleaned up the spill, double contained it and then we went to the second pivot and drained the mercury out of that."

TROY — Officials have determined there was no danger to a neighborhood after 13 Mason jars filled with mercury were discovered at a home in the 2200 block of East Square Lake, east of John R, in Troy.

A couple recently purchased the house and discovered a Mason jar of mercury inside the home filled with 10 pounds of mercury. They reportedly buried the jar in the backyard, but did not open the jar or break the glass, said Troy Police Lt. Bob Redmond.

The couple called police Nov. 29 when they discovered 12 more jars of mercury buried in the crawl space under the home when they tore up floorboards during a renovation project, Redmond said. Those jars were not opened, and the glass was intact, according to police.

Troy police and fire officers from the hazmat team responded and tested the air in the home and determined that it exceeded safe levels and was unsafe for human occupancy. Readings taken outside the home registered “zero” level of mercury, police said.

HESPERIA, Calif. -- Buckets of toxic mercury have been found in a Southern California desert home, forcing evacuation of the house until hazardous material experts clear the structure.

San Bernardino County fire spokesman Jay Hausman says authorities, acting on a tip, showed up at the Hesperia home early Tuesday.

Hausman tells the Victorville Daily Press that a pound of the liquid metal was found in buckets.

He says a man in the home was extracting mercury from computer components, but it's unclear what he planned to do with the metal.

The man, whose name hasn't been released, was cited for possession of a highly toxic substance.

Hausman says the man and a teenager were ordered to leave the home until a private hazardous materials team removes the mercury.

HUNTINGTON  -- Authorities said a Hazmat team is dealing with a spill near the 1700 block of Harveytown Road in Harveytown Park's parking lot.
Dispatchers said Sunday night they were dealing with a mercury spill.

Authorities at the scene said there is about 5-6 ounces of mercury that needed cleaned up.

Officials with Hazmat were called to dispose of the element and said it may take about six hours.

BOISE -- Work continued Sunday at the site of a house and shed that burned to the ground on Warm Springs Avenue.
The Environmental Protection Agency called Boise Fire crews to assist in putting out hot spots at the site. The crews were protected by chemical resistant suits and respiratory protection as a precaution after very high levels of mercury were found at the site.
Saturday, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Environmental Quality were on the scene to deal with concerns over those mercury levels.

OMAHA, NE - A hazmat scare forces a high school to close early Friday and cancel evening activities.

Investigators find mercury in three places at Burke High School; a drinking fountain and two bathrooms, and they say the dangerous metal came from a student.

Paramedics rushed ten students from the school to the hospital.

Officials tell KMTV Action 3 News that the students have since been treated and released but a very un-nerving end to the week.

After paramedics rush ten students to the hospital worried parents rush to the school to pick up their teens.

"I got the call and I ran," says Grandmother Kathi Zart.

Many parents and family members shocked to hear several students were exposed to mercury.

Omaha, NE - A chemical scare ended class early Friday at Burke High School. Omaha Public Schools spokesperson Luanne Nelson says a student brought Mercury to school in a fast food cup and poured it down the drain of a water fountain near the cafeteria.

10 students and seven teachers were possibly exposed to the chemical. The teachers refused medical treatment. The students were taken to the hospital for precautionary measures, but weren't exhibiting symptoms of Mercury in their system.

Those symptoms are similar to the flu: fever, nausea, and vomiting, according to the Poison Control Center.

The school was on a partial lock down, as Haz-Mat crews cleaned up the chemical in the building. Burke High School closed just after noon Friday.

The ramp from southbound K-96 to eastbound Kellogg is back open after being closed most of the day.

A semi rolled over this morning, closing the ramp. Investigators say the truck was carrying florescent lightbulbs. While the bulbs stayed inside the cargo area, they broke and spilled a potentially hazardous chemical inside. 

San Diego — UPDATE 4:54 p.m. - Toler and Bay Park elementary schools were taken off lock down status at around 4:30 p.m.

UPDATE 4 p.m. - Mission Bay High School has been taken off lock down status and all students were sent home at about 3:25 p.m., said the San Diego Fire Department. Lock downs for Bay Park and Toler elementary schools are still in effect.

UPDATE 2:40 p.m. - About 140 students have been isolated and are being screened for mercury contamination at Mission Bay High School after officials found that they'd entered classrooms with dangerous levels of the substance.

Three San Diego schools were put on lockdown Friday after students were exposed to mercury during their morning school bus ride.

WORCESTER —  Federal environmental officials told school and health officials this morning that the clean-up of the Grafton Elementary Street School is going smoothly, addressing the potentially hazardous mercury that was brought into a classroom by a student on Tuesday.

“That's really good news,” said Worcester schools Chief Academic Officer Jeffrey J. Mulqueen, who was at the school throughout the morning.

A specialized top-to-bottom cleaning of the building is ongoing.

A sixth-grade student brought nearly a pint of mercury to Grafton Street School to show a teacher on Tuesday, and that prompted an environmental investigation.

Despite the optimistic news this morning, Mr. Mulqueen said classes on Monday will be held at the Fanning Building on Chatham Street. He said parents and guardians were told last night that students would be moved from the Grafton Street Elementary School to the Fanning Building today and Monday.

“We are still planning school there Monday,” Mr. Mulqueen said. “We want to avoid any confusion.”

The district bused about 240 students in Grades 3 to 6 away from Grafton Street's Building 2 yesterday as a multi-agency decontamination effort got under way.

Students and faculty in the building, plus second-graders who entered Building 2 to have lunch, had until 6 p.m. yesterday to voluntarily have their urine tested for mercury exposure. Mercury leaves the body quickly, so testing after a certain window doesn't make sense, Mr. Mulqueen said.

PLYMOUTH - Several prisoners at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility were reportedly exposed to mercury Tuesday afternoon, September 21, 2010.

According to emergency broadcast reports from the scene, 19 people were exposed to approximately 3 ounces of mercury as well as an unidentified powder.

Rescue personnel transported the prisoners involved in the Hazmat situation to a decontamination site at the jail.

WORCESTER, Mass. -- Hazardous materials crews were called to Grafton Street Elementary in Worcester Wednesday after children were exposed to a poisonous metal by a classmate.

Neighbors identified the boy as a 12-year-old sixth grader who school officials said brought mercury to school.

The school said they isolated the substance and then called the fire department on Wednesday morning.

“The total amount that we can determine was in the container was somewhere between half a pint and a pint of it, which is a large amount of mercury,” said Worcester Fire Deputy Chief John Sullivan.

A daylong investigation and inspection of the school took place, but officials believe that only a few drops were spilled in a hallway.

MILWAUKEE (AP) ― Authorities called in the Fire Department's hazardous materials team after workers removing items from a house in Milwaukee spilled a small amount of mercury Tuesday.

Battalion Chief Spencer Vassel says no one was injured by the mercury. He says the spill occurred around 12:20 p.m. as workers were removing items from a house being readied for an estate sale.

He says a glass container holding mercury broke while being carried from the basement inside a garbage bag. The mercury spilled out along a path that stretched up the basement stairs and outside the house before workers noticed the spill.

MERIDIAN - A broken electrical part on a popcorn maker at the concession stand at the Majestic theater in Meridian has caused the facility to close for the rest of Tuesday, according to officials.

About 4 ounces of mercury spilled onto the floor. Some of the mercury came into contact with two employees' shoes.

Owners stopped admittance to the theater, but did not evacuate people who were already inside.

Hazmat was called in to investigate, and the theater is expected to remain closed for the rest of the day while a professional cleaning crew takes care of the spill area.

The two employees were checked out at the scene and are both fine.

BALTIMORE -- A group of elementary schools playing with thermometers caused a hazmat situation Friday in Baltimore.
Fire department spokesman Kevin Cartwright said more than a dozen people were isolated after broken thermometers prompted concerns about the mercury inside.
The incident occurred at Rodman Elementary School on West Mulberry Street.
The students and staffers affected were to be showered in a decontamination trailer.
There were no injuries reported.
Cartwright said the students were playing with thermometers that broke and released mercury.

In the aftermath of an mercury thermometer breaking in the Webutuck High School science lab room, Webutuck is using the incident to evaluate district protocol and training.
The thermometer broke during class time on Friday, April 30, while being used by a teacher during a demonstration. The students in class removed their shoes, so as not to track any mercury outside of the classroom, and were tested for traces of any vaporized mercury before being released. No one was injured, and students and parents were kept in communication with the school about the situation.
...
Using mercury in a science curriculum, even when found in thermometers, is no longer allowed in New York state. Webutuck had several mercury body thermometers in the science classroom that have since been discarded.
...this past summer Dutchess County BOCES, which is the school’s official risk management agency, conducted a cleanup of chemicals in the science labs. The mercury thermometers were overlooked

Topeka (WIBW) - A hazmat team was called Thursday to the scene of a Tuesday house fire.
Authorities say a mercury spill brought them back to 735 SW Filmore.
It happened in the basement of the apartment home. A mechanics tool that reportedly broke during the fire is likely to blame.
The hazmat team checked the building for further mercury contamination. They also checked the occupants' cars to make sure they had not spread the mercury to other locations.
The building's owner must now hire a private contractor to clean up the spill, but Topeka Fire Department Division Chief Jack Collie says the mercury is not at dangerous levels.
Collie also says the spill is not a threat to neighbors.

FREEDOM PLAINS — LaGrange Middle School will be closed Friday as well so cleanup of a mercury spill can continue, the district announced this afternoon on its website.
The spill may be larger than previously reported and the school is closed today as well.
The mercury was brought to school Wednesday in a vial by a student.
District officials said they decided to close the school today on the advice of Dutchess County health officials.
...
The school was locked down Wednesday after the spill was reported and dozens of students were sent to the hospital as a precaution.
No student illnesses have been reported, but the district said it is checking in with students today to see how they are doing.

BRIDGEVILLE, Pa. --
Chartiers Valley High School was evacuated because of a mercury spill Tuesday afternoon.
...
"We had a student who accidentally broke a thermometer in the science lab. When the thermometer broke, the students were immediately evacuated," said Dr. Bernard Sulkowski, acting superintendent of Chartiers Valley School District.
Although the amount of spilled mercury was small, the principal detected a slight odor in the classroom and ordered an evacuation as a precaution in case the odor would have gotten into the ventilation system, Sulkowski said.
Hazardous materials teams responded and said the odor did not get into the ventilation. They used an ammonia-based solution to wash the soles of the feet of 12 students who were in the science lab when the thermometer broke.

Environmental crews called to clean up after thermostat breaks
CLARKSVILLE, IN (WAVE) - A Clarksville woman contacted WAVE 3 for help after her daughter accidentally broke a thermostat containing mercury in their apartment. Environmental clean-up crews spent the day, trying to lower the levels of mercury, but the landlord has already started eviction proceedings against the tenant.
Crystal Green says her daughter knocked caused a thermostat to break when she moved a couch. The mercury spilled out onto the floor. Green says she tried to vacuum up the mess, but Clark County health officials say that was the worst thing she could have done in the situation. They say the vacuum caused the mercury to vaporize and spread throughout the apartment.
Doug Dentfield with the Clark County Health Department says many of the items inside Green's apartment were a total loss because they were contaminated.

Boise Fire crews keep Borah High classroom closed for one more day as a precaution after mercury spill
By Patrick Orr - porr@idahostatesman.com
Published: 03/04/10
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Boise Fire crews cleaned up a small mercury spill in a classroom in the old gym at Borah High Wednesday but found Thursday morning that one floor tile still had a small amount of the chemical on it so they decided to close the classroom for an additional day just to be safe.
Boise School District officials say 15 students at Borah High tested negative for mercury exposure after a student broke a bracelet that had a pea-drop sized amount of the element inside it during an English class Wednesday in the old gym building.

Source: ONE NewsDecontaminating from mercury spill
Emergency services turned out to a mercury spill at DairyNZ's headquarters on the outskirts of Hamilton.
The Fire Service says five to 10 millilitres of mercury was spilt at the office and labs shortly after 4pm Friday.
The spill happened when a 100-year-old barometer broke during an office move on Friday afternoon.
DairyNZ says the movers and one of its staff members were exposed.
"Our staff followed all the correct procedures. One who has had the relevant HASNO training put on the appropriate protective gear and began dealing with it," Dairy NZ CEO Tim Mackle says.

ONE of Tyneside’s most exclusive buildings had to be evacuated after a chemical leak.
Fire crews were called to the historic Mansion House, in Jesmond, Newcastle, after mercury spilled on to the floor.
Nine fire engines from Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue stations across Newcastle and Gateshead attended the official residence of the city’s Lord Mayor of Newcastle, on Fernwood Road, and spent three hours making the area safe.
Firefighters found that mercury had leaked from the pendulum of an antique grandfather clock.
Wearing gas-tight suits, two firefighters entered the building and soaked up the chemical using sand before placing it in a plastic bag and giving it to a specialist disposal company.