An incident involving chemicals at a southwest suburban Bridgeview meat packing facility sent people feeling ill to area hospitals and prompted emergency officials to evacuate the building early Tuesday.

Emergency officials responded to Stampede Meat, Inc., on the 7300 block of South 78th Avenue, about 12:20 a.m. after unknown chemicals mixed and caused people at the facility to feel ill, Bridgeview Police Sgt. Lou Dominguez said.

An unknown number of people were taken to area hospitals but no serious injuries had been reported as of about 1:15 a.m., he said.

The building, which houses a meat-packing type facility, was fully staffed when the incident occurred and had to be evacuated, Dominguez said.

Firefighters were called to Veolia Environmental Services off Stubbers Green Road, Aldridge, at 11.50am yesterday.

A drum containing spray paint waste started to pressurise in the sunlight and released steam.

Veolia spokesman Martin Curtois said: “The drum was  cooled by the fire brigade and moved to an external yard area shortly after which it was declared safe.

“Our 55 staff who had been evacuated at the start of the incident as a precaution returned to work. No-one was injured and the staff acted in an exemplary manner following all safety procedures at the site.”

Firefighters from Walsall, Bloxwich and Sutton and specialist chemical crews from Wednesbury and Fallings Park attended.

Two people were taken to hospital and two were treated at the scene after a chemical incident in Manchester.

Fire crews were called to The Alchemist bar in Spinningfields at 0143 BST following reports of a substance giving off furmes.

Greater Manchester Ambulance Service said two people with asthma were taken to hospital with breathing difficulties.

All four people affected were employees of the bar.

A Greater Manchester Fire Service spokesperson said it was suspected the fumes were caused by an accidental mixing of two heavy duty cleaning agents in the kitchen.

The Gates Fire District responded early Tuesday to a hazmat condition at Cryovac on Brooks Avenue.

The company has a 55 gallon drum of plastic resin that was overheating. The resin is kept at 110 degrees and when employees arrived to Cryovac Tuesday at 7:30 a.m., they noticed that smoke was coming out of the drum and pulled the fire alarm.

Gates fire chief Jim Harrington said the drum had brought the temperature to over 200 degrees. When the material inside overheats, a chemical reaction causes the material to increase in heat, Harrington said. Firefighters were worried the drum was going to over-pressurize and explode so they evacuated nearby employees and cooled the drum off with a fire hose.

(KMOV)-- Crews were called to the scene of a hazmat situation on California Drive at Highway 157 in St. Clair County.
Fairview Heights Fire Department confirmed the hazmat incident was at Illini Environmental Inc.
The company owner said employees were mixing 2 drums of chlorine bath tablets (toilet bowl cleaner) with latext paint to prepare them for shipment to a landfill when they gave off a lot of vapor. The white smoke/chemical cloud was so thick that it was first thought to be a fire.
An employee called police to report a chemical spill but a passerby called 911 and reported a fire.
The owner said the smoke shouldn't be hazardous but as a precaution the business was evacuated and residents in two nearby homes were told to shelter in place, stay in home with windows shut and ac/heat turned off.

Part of central Dunedin was cordoned off tonight as firefighters worked to clear a chemical spill at Speight's Brewery.

Acting Fire Station officer Martin Jansen said about 20 firefighters were still at the scene tonight tackling the spillage of 300 litres of nitrobrite, a highly corrosive cleaning chemical, which was reacting with the container it was stored in.

The firefighters were attempting to dilute the substance so they could shift it to another container and dispose of it.

Honolulu firefighters responded to a hazardous material alarm today during a company preparation for an Environmental Protection Agency demonstration on Monday.

The reaction occurred about 11:45 a.m. at Unitek Insulation when a compound was mixed with ethylene glycol, a liquid usually found in antifreeze, that overheated, setting off the sprinklers, said Honolulu fire Capt. Earle Kealoha.

Firefighters responded the business at 2676 Waiwai Loop, near Lagoon Drive, and found the product was contained to a 55-gallon drum. A fire hazmat team covered the barrel to prevent any spills and monitored the product, which didn't present a hazard, Kealoha said.

Kealoha said Unitek is one of the companies that the Fire Department calls to contain hazardous chemicals.

SPARKS - Streets are back open in the Coney Island area after Wednesday's hazmat incident.

Officials say a barrel of nitric acid began to smoke for unknown reasons when it was moved into a plastic barrel.

Advanced Composite Technologies uses the chemical in production, and hired H20 Environmental to dispose of the chemical waste.

Fully-suited hazmat teams had to siphon the chemical out of the barrel and dilute it with water.

Nitric acid can be a dangerous chemical.

"It's an industrial grade nitric acid. If it got onto your skin, it would cause severe burns. It can cause a lot of reactions with a lot of different chemicals," said Tom Garrison, Sparks Fire Department.

Teams were able to mitigate the situation without incident.

The chemical is still in several barrels at Advanced Composite Technologies. H20 Environmental wil return to the scene Thursday morning to finish the removal.

AURORA — The Vaughan Athletic Center reopened Tuesday afternoon, after air quality tests determined the building was safe to occupy. The pool, however, will stay closed until further notice.

The Fox Valley Park District center on West Indian Trail was closed Monday, after chemicals mixed in a tank emitted a strong odor starting at about 9:30 a.m.

Aurora firefighters said contractors were mixing chemicals to be used in the pool area Monday morning when one of the materials was placed in the wrong tank. The resulting chemical reaction created a strong odor, and the building was immediately evacuated.

WASHINGTON - A Washington hotel has been evacuated, and a hazardous materials team is on the scene to investigate a possible chemical reaction that sent fumes through the building.

D.C. fire department spokesman Pete Piringer says the Washington Marriott Hotel was evacuated about 4 p.m. Thursday in the city's Foggy Bottom neighborhood. Several streets also are closed in the area, which could disrupt rush hour traffic.

Piringer says one person was evaluated by medics.

Firefighters believe the chemical reaction started in the hotel's trash compactor.

Two people were taken to hospital with breathing difficulties following a chemical incident at a Lincolnshire factory.

More than 30 firefighters were called to the premises on Sluice Road, Holbeach St Marks, just before 2100 GMT on Saturday.

Specialist crews were also called to the scene and the area cordoned off.

A spokeswoman for Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue said a clean-up operation had been completed and the area made safe.

It is thought the incident happened during the cleaning of a food preparation area after disinfectant reacted with an unknown substance.

MAGNA — Two men suffered non life-threatening injuries Friday following a chemical reaction at Kennecott.

The incident occurred about 10 a.m. at the power plant at 9150 W. 2600 South, said Unified Fire Capt. Clint Smith.

A delivery truck driver was unloading sodium hypochlorite or bleach. The driver thought he was unloading the chemical into an empty tank. Instead, he put it into a tank that already contained hydrochloric acid, creating chlorine gas, said Kennecott spokeswoman Jana Kettering.

From the archive
Kennecott worker burned in workplace accident – July 27, 2010
Tractor-trailer crashes into Bear River – July 16, 2010
The driver and a Kennecott employee breathed in the gas fumes, causing chest pains, burning lungs and coughing, she said.

Both people affected by the spill were flown to area hospitals as per Kennecott protocol for any hazardous materials incident — one was taken to University Hospital and the other to Intermountain Medical Center in Murray.

GRAND RAPIDS -- Grand Rapids firefighters and hazardous materials units responded to a chemical spill along 28th Street SE early this morning.
Crews were called to a building at 100 28th St SE that houses Model Coverall Service Inc. after a mixture of ammonia and other chemicals spilled and combined.
No injuries were reported in the accident, which happen about 5:30 a.m.
Traffic on 28th Street backed up as drivers slowed to see what was going on. A strong smell of ammonia filled the air as crews worked inside the building.

FAIRHOPE, Alabama -- Police and firefighters evacuated Fairhope’s Public Works compound and closed a portion of Section Street for about two hours this morning after city workers reported a strong "chemical smell" at the city’s household garbage warehouse, said Sgt. Craig Sawyer, police spokesman.

At about 9:30 a.m., workers at the warehouse smelled noxious fumes while they were using bulldozers to push household waste into the trailer of an 18-wheeler, said Dan McCrory, Fairhope Volunteer Fire Department spokesman.

The workers left the facility, and at 9:37 a.m. Fairhope firefighters were called to the scene. Assistant Fire Chief Chris Ellis immediately ordered an evacuation of the Public Works area, which includes several buildings and warehouses, as well as the nearby animal shelter, The Haven.



The team determined that, as machines pushed the waste toward the truck trailer, a number of chemicals had been accidentally combined in a single 3-by-5-foot area, McCrory said.

The combination apparently created a chemical reaction, he said. The team’s instruments detected at least four chemicals:
Muratic acid, which in high concentrations can be used to etch concrete
Calcium chloride, a highly water-absorbent salt made of calcium and chlorine
Chlorine dioxide, used as household bleach, and
Calcium hydroxide, known colloquially as "lime," which has a variety of uses including the creation of mortar and plaster and the treatment of sewage.

NORTH NAPLES: Seven people were taken to the hospital after a chemical leak at a North Naples business Monday morning.

Firefighters say some kind of a sulphuric acid mixture leaked at Moog Techtron Corp at 1400 Rail Head Boulevard around 10 a.m.

Sixty people inside the building at the time were evacuated as HAZMAT crews worked to deal with the leak.

"The employees, when they got inside this morning, everything was cool... then all the sudden, somewhere, some vapors came up. They stared getting lightheaded and dizzy," said Chief Orly Stolts of the North Naples Fire Department.

Jerry Burns, Operations Manager at the business, which cleans computer parts, reported an ammonia smell shortly after getting to work.

He said the chemical leak happened when a employee there was cleaning out some containers. But Monday, that routine job turned into a hectic scene.

Village staff said an accident that caused employees to evacuate the wastewater treatment plant in Dexter on Wednesday was caused by a miscommunication from a private company delivering chemicals to the facility.

“The driver told a village staff member that he would fill the chlorine first,” Nicholls said.

Instead, the driver connected a hose that fed bisulfate (an acid) into the plant’s chlorine storage container, which caused the release of chlorine gas, which is extremely harmful to mucus membranes such as the eyes, nasal passage and lungs.

“As soon as the chemical went into the tank a reaction occurred that was witnessed by the village employee,” Nicholls said. “A village utility employee monitors all chemical deliveries.”

Fresno City Fire crews are on the scene of a hazmat situation in Southeast Fresno.

According to Fresno Fire Spokesperson Gary Eberhard, a 2,000 gallon Hydrogen Peroxide tank stared venting gas around 11:15 a.m. Thursday at the Univar USA plant on Florence Ave, near Cedar.

Crews believe the venting is due to a change in temperatures.

The plant has been shut down for the day, as firefighters continue to spray the tank in hopes of cooling it down.

A 2,000 ft evacuation zone around the plant has been put into place. 30 people at the Univar plant, and another nearby building, have been evacuated.

UPDATE: Evacuations after chemical reaction

The van carrying water treatment chemicals caught fire in West Manheim Township.

It forced hazmat crews to evacuate residents.

Now, we are learning more about that dangerous chemicals fire from the Maryland company that owns the van.

CBS 21 News spoke to the vice president of Arc Water Treatment Company of Maryland. He said the van involved in the fire is one of 12 vehicles used to transport a combination of water treatment chemicals along the east coast.

He says for the past 46 years, they've transported chemicals without this type of problem, and now they are investigating to see what caused the chemical fire in this quiet neighborhood.

Tuesday night, emergency management officials on the scene told CBS 21 News they believed the chemicals were from swimming pool products stored inside the company van.

The Arc Water Treatment Company says it's in the business of delivering chemicals for heating and air conditioning cooling towers in commercial buildings along the east coast from Virginia to Delaware.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa — Authorities believe chemicals used to unclog a toilet at a Sioux City home created a dangerous mixture that sent three people to the hospital.

Officials were called to the house Monday morning. Firefighters believe chemicals used to unclog a toilet in the basement may have mixed with something caught in the drain, creating hydrogen sulfate gas.

Assistant Fire Chief Jim Clark says firefighters ventilated the house and used water to dilute the chemicals.

Officials say an elderly couple and their granddaughter were taken to a hospital, and all three were conscious.

Their names were not immediately released.

GRANBY, Mass. (WWLP) - They've neutralized a Hazardous Materials situation at the Granby landfill.

A truck driver arriving to drop off a load at the landfill told 22News they were turned away because a blue barrel started giving off fumes and smoke.

MARTINSVILLE — Hazardous fumes at a Bradford Woods swimming pool in Morgan County hospitalized a child camper and three adults Thursday after a strange reaction in the pool’s chemical room.

Thirty swimmers were evacuated from the pool area late in the afternoon after they smelled the strong fumes, Bradford Woods director Shay Dawson said. In all, nurses evaluated 18 youth campers and the 13 adults who were supervising them at Camp Riley, a summer program for children ages 8 to 18 who have physical disabilities.

Emergency medical responders and fire officials also evaluated the children and adults, most of whom were fine.

Apparently 6 to 8 ounces of muriatic acid mixed with chlorine in a chemical room near the pool, Dawson said. Swimmers who had been closest to the irritating fumes appeared to be most affected.

Dawson couldn’t explain Thursday how the two chemicals became mixed, or why.

A mishap on Brookside Avenue that saw two industrial chemicals mixed improperly led to a closed road and a visit from a HAZMAT team, Wellesley officials said today. The chemicals were not spilled, and police say there is no danger to the public.

At 7:18 a.m., two chemicals being used to reline piping were combined in a 55-gallon drum being stored in the back of a truck. The chemicals were allowed to remain too long, and began heating up and emitting vapors.

"As far as we know, the situation was unpleasant, but not dangerous," said Officer Marcia Cleary of the Wellesley Police Department. "The Fire Department responded to the incident and originally requested a Tier 1 HAZMAT response, which is standard procedure."

At 8:40, the fire department amended their request to include more HAZMAT responders.

"The drum was contained in the back of a truck, and it was difficult for us to get at it or see any weaknesses in the drum," said Captain Nat Brady of the Wellesley Fire Department, who was on the scene. "We felt it better to have a backup team in case something happened."

ETNA TOWNSHIP -- Medics transported a janitor to an area hospital Tuesday after the janitor's floor cleaning supplies came in contact with another agent, creating a possible chemical reaction.

No other staff members or students were hurt in the incident at the high school, 8868 Watkins Road SW.

West Licking Joint Fire District received a call concerning a person feeling ill at around 9:50 a.m., fire Chief David Fulmer said.

When medics arrived at the scene, the janitor was having trouble breathing. Medics transported the janitor to an area hospital for precautionary reasons, Fulmer said.

Few other details were available early Tuesday, but Fulmer said the janitor was cleaning a floor in one of the school's hallways when the incident occurred. The janitor was using two regular cleaning products to mop the floor when the products "came in contact with an unknown (chemical), which caused the reaction," Fulmer said.

The Licking County Haz-Mat team responded to the high school, along with firefighters from West Licking. A Licking County Sheriff's Deputy closed the entrance to the high school on Watkins Road.

Other janitors, a handful of building administrators and some band students were inside the school when the incident happened. Firefighters evacuated them, in addition to students lifting weights in a nearby weight-lifting building. No other injuries were reported, Fulmer said.

Because of the extreme heat, the Haz-Mat team was proceeding slowly Tuesday. Team members donned heavy chemical-resistant suits before entering the high school to ascertain the cause of the chemical reaction.

Afterward, Fulmer said they intended to treat the chemical or air out the building.

Watkins Memorial likely will be closed for part of the early afternoon as the Haz-Mat team works, Fulmer said.

Earlier reports of Watkins Road closing as a result of the situation were in error.

The Grand Island YMCA was evacuated about 3 p.m. today because of a reported chemical spill.

According to police scanner traffic, hydrochloric acid and chlorine accidentally mixed in the pool area, causing chemical fumes in the area of the building.
Adults and children were evacuated, with preschoolers being taken to the Grand Generation Center and older children to the Central Plains Chapter of the American Red Cross.

The Grand Island Fire Department responded to the scene to address the chemical leak and ventilate the building. The department's hazardous materials team was en route shortly after 3 p.m.

Two ambulances were dispatched to the scene to treat at least four inhalation victims.

More information will be reported as it becomes available.

Wentzville, Missouri - A hazmat crisis shuts down a community pool and forces nearby Warrenton residents to evacuate their homes. A chemical worker made a dangerous mistake that could have cost him his life.

A neighbor to the community pool first spotted the worker struggling to breath. Susie Busekrus was sitting across the street from where the worker described a burst of chemical smoke. She said she watched him run out, yell something and cough continuously.

The third party contractor was topping off liquid chlorine when he accidentally poured some into a different chemical bucket. Warrenton Police Chief Greg Houdyshell said emergency responders faced two immediate problems. They didn't know what the other chemical was and they didn't know how much was involved.

Chief Houdyshell said, "The Hazmat teams are doing an excellent job of monitoring air quality in the surrounding area. Right now we've been fortunate the winds haven't shifted at all."

Busekrus called for help when she saw the worker wasn't going to recover on his own. She said, "And we had the street lined with trucks and ambulances after that."

Medics worked on the victim right in Susie's front yard before a medical helicopter flew him to St. John's in Creve Coeur. The medics didn't see any external burns but they were worried about possible internal chemical burns.

Reporter Chris Hayes asked the witness who called for help, "Do you wonder what would've happened if you weren't here to see it?" Busekrus responded, "That's a good question. I don't know what he was going to do, because he wasn't doing anything."

BROCKTON —
A man mixing cleaning products in his Brockton home caused a bomb scare that shut down Pleasant Street for more than two hours Wednesday night.

Brockton firefighters and Hazmat crews responded to 211 Pleasant St. at 7:20 p.m. Wednesday after a man called about a plastic bottle that was overheating and expanding.

Brockton Fire Chief Richard Francis said the second-floor occupant of the house was mixing cleaning chemicals in a plastic spray bottle when the bottle began to heat up and expand. The occupant put the bottle in the bathtub and called the Fire Department, Francis said.

Because of the possibility of a chemical explosion, a Tier One Hazardous Materials Response was activated, bringing a Hazmat crew and chemical analysis team to the scene.

Francis said the bomb squad would most likely fire a pellet into the bottle to cause the chemicals to ooze out. The chemical analysis team would then examine the contents.

Francis said it was unknown at the time what the chemicals were that the man had been mixing.

In the front yard of the house, Hazmat crews were examining a row of Clorox bleach and what appeared to be other cleaning products.

Julio Cleverseau, the resident who called the Fire Department, said he had poured Clorox bleach into a plastic bottle that he believed was empty, and shaken it. When the bottle began to heat up and expand, Cleverseau said he became afraid it would explode and called the Fire Department.

(ABC 6 NEWS) -- The Rochester Fire Department's Hazmat team responded to a home that became toxic after the resident tried to unclog a sink drain using, what seemed like simple household chemicals.

But what happened is becoming more common for fire crews.

David Hunter's trailer in southeast Rochester is airing out, after a toxic combination of chemicals forced him and his family to evacuate Thursday evening.

"I poured liquid plumber down the drain, two hours later I poured Runo down the drain and two hours later I poured another bottle of liquid plumber," says Hunter.

And that created a chemical so toxic, that even he didn't want us to go inside more than 12 hours later.

"It bubbled up started smoking and burning my eyes and I couldn't breathe so I got out of the house," says Hunter.

The Rochester Fire Department's Hazmat team responded.

But, Chief Steven Belau says these calls are more common than you think.

"About once a month," he says.

We had Chief Belau demonstrate what can happen when acetic acid and sodium bicarbonate, both commonly used in household cleaners, are mixed together.

"You'll be able to see a chemical reaction as the two combine," he says.

Although this combination isn't toxic, it is poisonous.

"Anytime you mix an ammonia-based product with a bleach or an acid you get a bad chemical reaction...scratchy throat irritated eyes if you're exposed for too long you can develop something called Pulmonary Edema which is where the little air sacks in the lungs lead fluid and it causes trouble breathing," he says.

A lesson, David Hunter learned the hard way.

"Don't mix two chemicals, use a product by itself and use it according to the label," says Capt. Ken Dose of the Rochester Fire Department.

Fire officials say if you accidentally combine chemicals and it creates a toxic reaction, you need to leave that area and call 911.

LONG BRANCH — Emergency workers remain at the scene of a small chemical fire that led to the evacuation of some residents at an Atlantic Avenue apartment complex early this morning.
The fire was reported around 3:25 a.m.
A powdered chemical, which may have been drain cleaner, had been stored inside a 55-gallon drum in a storage room at the Pleasure Bay Apartments, police said.
The chemical got wet, and that caused a reaction that started a fire, said Lt. Michael McGlennon.
Three people - a firefighter and two residents - felt ill from the fumes and were evaluated on scene, he said. The residents were then transported to Monmouth Medical Center in the city.

Zweigle’s evacuated; worker hospitalized
Local News – March 8, 2010 - 9:49am
TINA YEE staff photographer
A Rochester Fire Department haz-mat firefighter heads toward Zweigle’s to help clean up a chemical spill involving cleaning chemicals today.
An accidental mixing of cleaning products at Zweigle’s Inc. sent one person to the hospital and closed a street.
A maintenance worker at Zweigle’s, 651 N. Plymouth Ave., was mixing cleaning chemicals and dumped one in a five-gallon bucket about 7 a.m., Rochester Fire Capt. Chris McCullough said.
The worker thought the bucket was empty, but it contained the residue of another chemical. The mixture — a mild combination of acid and chlorine that is common to home cleaning products — created a gas that irritates the lungs, said McCullough.

Chemical fire erupts, gas main bursts in city
Firefighters wash down one of their colleagues after a gas main burst yesterday.
People were evacuated after a chemical fire broke out in Mount Maunganui - and just minutes later a worker ruptured a gas main and struck a live wire.
The two incidents, which resulted in emergency services racing across town, were part of a hectic two hours of drama in which police chased thieves and a caregiver was assaulted.
The action started at 12.50pm when firefighters and police sped to Genera Ltd in Maru St, Mount Maunganui after reports of a fire in a drum turned out to be sparks and a toxic plume of gas developing after water was poured on aluminium phosphide pellets.
Aluminium phosphide is used for fumigation.
Tauranga Fire Brigade senior station officer Phil Price said a number of businesses in the neighbouring industrial area were evacuated and about 20 people checked over by ambulance officers.

2 women hospitalized after chemical spill
1 comment by Jolie McCullough - Feb. 8, 2010 05:23 PM
The Arizona Republic
A hazardous-material spill in a textile cleaning building sent two women to the hospital in Phoenix Monday afternoon.
The two women in their 30s were in the room of the building near 43rd Avenue and Mohave Street when a 5-gallon bucket of formic acid, a neutralizer used with many cleaning agents such as lye, spilled at around 4 p.m., said Phoenix Fire Department spokesperson Jonathan Jacobs.
The women experienced symptoms from exposure to acid, such as respiratory problems, skin irritation, nausea and vomiting, and were transported to the hospital, Jacobs said.

SARTELL — A Sartell man and his young daughter were taken to the hospital Tuesday after noxious fumes were found in his home.
Mullins had been cleaning a floor and had used chlorine, bleach and ammonia during the cleaning process,

NORTHGATE: The Queensland Fire and Rescue Service (QFRS) responded to a hazardous materials incident at a commercial property on Earnshaw Road, Northgate yesterday afternoon.
Two workers became affected after two chemicals were accidently mixed.

WEST CHESTER TWP. — Fire and Hazmat crews were called early Tuesday evening, Feb. 2, to Univar USA Inc., a chemical company at 4600 Dues Drive in West Chester.
Bags of chemicals fell off a truck and began to heat up, said township spokesperson Barb Wilson. Crews had been called as a precaution and were seen leaving the business around 5:15 p.m. There was no need for evacuation.