Firefighters today contained a chemical spill in the Hastings suburb of Flaxmere which had the potential to kill animal and marine life.

Fire Service Hastings Senior Station Officer Bruno Saathof told NZPA a Cropliner spraying unit with a full tank of insecticide was being towed by a tractor between two orchards when the towbar broke about 11am.

The insecticide was extremely toxic to animal and marine life and 150 litres of the 2000 litre load spilled.

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.

CONCORDIA Lutheran College students were given a brief reprieve from classes this morning when a chemical spill caused a mass evacuation.
 

An amount of sodium was spilt in a "prep room" near the science laboratories just after 11am, forcing the school to initiate its evacuation procedures.


The highly reactive metal can explode when combined with water or moisture. 

HUNTSVILLE, TX (KTRK) -- Officials at Sam Houston State University evacuated the chemistry and forensic science building due to a chemical spill in the building.

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A spokesperson for the university said that shortly before 8am Tuesday a bottle of bromine was knocked over as students were preparing to do a lab in the building. The bromine is in liquid form, but turns to gas rather quickly.
The building's safety officer was notified and they went through standard procedure and evacuated the building.
Huntsville Fire Department's Hazmat team cleaned up the spill and will continue to monitor the air.

HYDERABAD: Two heavy vehicles overturned in the city in separate incidents, creating chaos on arterial roads on Thursday.

Motorists suffered a lot as traffic got diverted after heavy vehicles turned turtle on the main roads in Habsiguda and Saifabad on Thursday morning.

At about 5.30 am, a tanker (AP 16 TW 6433) carrying 25 tons of highly inflammable `Toulene' chemical from Kakinada port to Jeedimetla overturned after hitting the retaining wall of the Tarnaka flyover at its entry point. As a result, motorists were forced to take a detour and travel 13 kilometres extra to reach their workplaces.

Immediately after the accident, the driver fled from the spot as the chemical began leaking onto the Uppal main road.

Police were immediately alerted about the incident and after consulting the fire department officials, cops learnt that the material was highly inflammable and immediately blocked the road at Habsiguda and Mettuguda ends and diverted traffic through Nacharam.

VERNON TWP. — Clean-up of a derailed train near Pittsburg and Reed roads continued over the weekend after a Canadian National Railway car carrying hydrochloric acid was punctured Thursday evening, spilling the hazardous chemical.
 The tracks were “all cleared” Sunday around 8 p.m., Durand Fire Chief Richard Rinker said this morning.
“The cause (for the derailment) is still under investigation,” Canadian National Railway Public Affairs Director Patrick Waldron said.

VERNON TWP. — A freight train that derailed Thursday night near the corner of Pittsburg and Reed roads, damaging a tanker filled with hydrochloric acid, forced residents to evacuate their homes as emergency personnel struggled to stop the leaking chemical.
The Canadian National Railway freight train was eastbound from Battle Creek to Flat Rock about 6:30 p.m. when 12 cars derailed. Three tanker cars carrying hydrochloric acid overturned onto their sides, CN Public Affairs Director Patrick Waldron said. He added one tanker was spilling hydrochloric acid and another had a drip leak.

The Cooks Gap bush fire brigade was called to assist Fire and Rescue NSW after a chemical spill on the Ulan Road near Durridgery road last Thursday.
The clean up took several hours. Fire and Rescue NSW bought in units from Merriwa, Gulgong and Bathurst and called for assistance from the police and ambulance.

Firefighters from the Yuma Fire Department were being assisted by city of Yuma employees in the cleanup of a ferrous chloride spill at a sewage lift station Monday.

According to Dave Nash, public affairs manager for the city, the spill of 150 gallons of the chemical, which is used to alleviate odors from the sewage system, resulted from a break in an underground pipeline between the lift station and the site where it is injected into the sewer system.

“We were on it right away. We have properly trained, properly equipped individuals on scene.”

Nash said the spill was discovered shortly before 9 a.m. by employees from the city's water pollution control unit, who were making their morning rounds of the facility.

Fire crews have contained a chemical spill at a helicopter maintenance company near Auckland.
Two staff at Airwork New Zealand at Ardmore Airport were evacuated and the site was cordoned off on Thursday morning.
About 300 litres of chromic acid was found to have leaked.
The Fire Service says the chemical has now been neutralised and absorbed, and the building has been ventilated.

BOULDER - Boulder fire officials say more than 700 gallons of flammable liquid were spilled from a manufacturing plant and led to the evacuation of one of its buildings.
Boulder Fire Chief of Operations David Cain told the Boulder Daily Camera the liquid did not get into any of the city's storm or sewer water drains Monday afternoon. No injuries were reported.
The spill happened at the Roche Colorado plant. Cain says the liquid was a mixture of methanol and water. He says the spill likely happened because of a faulty valve on a pipe carrying the liquid or a pipe leak.
Roche Colorado manufactures peptides used in pharmaceuticals.

Hazardous Materials Emergency Units  responded to the 21700 block of Saratoga Drive in the Patuxent Homes neighborhood shortly after 9 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 23 for report of a fuel leak.

Investigation revealed over 130 gallons of heating fuel had leaked out from a 300 gallon holding tank that was filled up at midnight on Dec. 23, and was leaking into the basement and coming out of the sump pump.

A tractor-trailer rig hauling hazardous materials rolled on Interstate 80 near Coalville in Summit County on Wednesday morning.

Utah Highway Patrol spokesman Todd Johnson said the truck’s driver sustained only minor injuries and was treated at the scene. However, the 7:30 a.m. crash temporarily closed both directions of travel near mile post 179 — and one of the truck’s fuel tanks ruptured.

Additionally, an estimated 50 pounds of hydrogen chloride spilled, Johnson said. Hazmat personnel were dispatched to the scene near Echo Reservoir. By 6 p.m., the chemicals had been cleaned up, UHP reported.

However, traffic through the area was diverted to alternative routes until early Wednesday afternoon, when all but one lane was reopened. At 6 p.m., workers were still fixing the guardrail, which required the lane to remain closed, Johnson said.

By Anneka Masih: Firefighters tackled a toxic chemical spill in Burton-upon-Trent caused by a faulty machine.

The leak happened at Rumenco animal feed factory in Derby Road, Stretton.

The alarm was raised this morning (December 14) when machinery began smoking and toxic liquids spilled out.

Firefighters wore gas tight chemical suits and poured sand over the spill to absorb the chemical.

A plane manufacturing company in Little Rock is letting employees back into the building after a chemical spill.

Hawker Beechcraft is letting employees back into the building after a 55-gallon drum ruptures, spilling some chemicals and releasing chemicals into the air.

It happened around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. The Little Rock Fire Department says a woman was in a room of the building where cabinets are installed into aircrafts when she heard a popping and crackling sound coming from a fire-proof cabinet. As she was trying to leave the room, one of the 55-gallon drums ruptured. She was taken by MEMS to a local hospital after feeling nausea and a burning sensation in her nose.

The cabinet was warped and chemicals spilled onto the floor with chemical vapors being released into the air. HAZ-MAT was called to the scene and they turned on vents in the room to help evacuate the vapor.

The room is now taped off and HAZ-MAT will continue testing until the room is safe to let employees back in.

FALMOUTH, Maine (AP) — Officials say a spill from a broken container of muriatic acid that was illegally dumped in Falmouth forced the temporary closing of an access road and sent two people to the hospital, but they were treated and released with no serious injuries.

Assistant Fire Chief Doug Patey of the Falmouth Fire Department said police were called Monday morning after the two public works employees went to retrieve a recycling container behind the West Falmouth Shopping Center, and discovered a liquid chemical inside and outside of the container.

Firefighters using breathing apparatus and specialist gas-tight chemical suits have tackled a cyanide leak in north Devon.

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service said about 200 litres of potassium cyanide leaked into an overflow tank at Tyco Electronics at East The Water, near Bideford.

The spill was contained within the factory and no-one was injured.

The chemical is normally stored on site to strip metal.

TUCSON (KOLD) - A hazmat situation is under control at a dentist's office in South Tucson.

Tucson Fire says it was called out to the office on South Sixth Avenue Friday afternoon to help South Tucson authorities after a bottle spilled on the floor containing Buckley's Formo Cresol -- a pain reliever used in root canals.  It's harmful to the skin when applied in large amounts.

Two employees were taken to the hospital to get checked out, but nobody else was hurt.

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) – Columbia firefighters are on the scene of chemical spill at the University of South Carolina's Graduate Science Research Center on Sumter Street.

Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins said a student in one of the labs knocked over and broke a container of a chemical called Tetrahydfuran that was being using for an experiment. Jenkins said Tetrahydfuran can be flammable and cause respiratory problems, and is known to evaporate quickly once exposed to air.

There were about three people inside the fifth-floor laboratory when the spill occurred, and about 15 to 20 people were evacuated from the building. Jenkins said everyone was able to make it out of the building okay.

A hazardous materials team has entered the building and is ventilating the facility. There were no reports of damage to the building.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WSVN) -- A jackknifed tractor trailer spilled its load onto Interstate 95, affecting the morning commute Wednesday.

Stacks of plywood scattered across the southbound lanes of the I-95, just before the Broward Boulevard exit, after two trucks collided. The spill backed up traffic for miles as crews spent several hours cleaning up nearly 600 sheets of plywood.

Complicating matters, 150 gallons of diesel fuel also leaked onto the interstate and HAZMAT crews had to be called to the scene. "They were able to control the fuel spill and get it cleaned up rather quickly," said Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Mark Wysocky.

KAILUA-KONA (Hawaii News Now) - Big Island firefighters evacuated a portion of the Kailua-Kona Costco parking lot at about noon Tuesday after gas spilled from a pickup truck parked in the lot.

According to Hawaii County Fire Department Capt. J. Yamamoto, a "copious amount" of gas filled the lot and one engine, an ambulance and a Hazmat unit were called to the scene at 47-5600 Maiau St.

Costco provided material to help contain the fuel spilling from the truck's ruptured tank while fire crews dismantled the truck bed to reach the leak. After determining the leak could not be plugged, the gas was siphoned into portable fuel cans.

No one was injured and no fire started during the spill.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Crews were called in Monday morning to cleanup a hazardous situation at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Fayetteville.
Crews at the site said workers who were renovating the building found some kind of acid that special response teams were called to collect.
No one has been injured at this time, officials said.

The Grand Junction Fire Department Hazmat Team says a hauling drilling fluid lost its load of barrels around 7:20 a.m. About 100 gallons of the hazardous fluid spilled from a punctured barrel.

Hazmat members wore full protective gear and oxygen masks while they cleaned up. None of the chemical is believed to have gotten into the river.

Highway 65 was closed for more than five hours at from the I-70 off ramp to 45 1/2 Road. Drivers were forced to take the De Beque cut off.

Officials say the driver of the truck won't be cited for losing his load because he handled the situation properly after it happened. He stopped immediately and called a towing company to help him put the barrels back on the truck and it was the towing company that actually punctured the barrel in the course of repacking the load. It's unclear if the towing company will be cited.

Staff were evacuated after a chemical spill at a Flintshire aerospace factory.

Four fire engines were called to the scene at Gardner Aerospace, Hawarden Business Park, Flintshire, at 0939 GMT Friday.

There had been a spillage of sulphuric acid and chromic acid at the factory, which makes aeroplane parts.

North Wales Fire Service said an environmental protection unit and incident response unit was also sent.

No-one was hurt.

JASPER COUNTY, Ind. (WISH) - Hazmat crews are still on the scene of an accident involving an Amtrak train and semi in Jasper County.

It happened on County Road 1200 West near the small town of Fair Oaks at 9:05 a.m. Friday.

According to Jasper County Sheriff’s Department, the semi failed to yield at the crossing and the Hoosier State Train from Indianapolis slammed into the semi’s trailer splitting it into two pieces.

The semi was carrying methanol bottles which are highly flammable. Hazmat crews were called to the scene to clean up the spillage.

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."

DAYTON, Ohio -- Interstate 75 in downtown Dayton turned into a parking lot for nearly two hours while crews dealt with a large diesel fuel spill that lasted into Thursday morning.
Police received calls about 11:15 Wednesday night concerning problems on southbound 75 right near Main Street.
Officers discovered a big rig with a ruptured side fuel tank on his cab. Dozens of gallons of diesel fuel were rolling across the highway.

About 250 gallons of sulfuric acid leaked onto Interstate 25 and into its drainage systems Thursday night.

Crews are finishing the cleanup today and trying to determine the damage and environmental impact.

The leak, in the northbound lanes between South Washington Street and South Broadway, closed I-25 at South University Boulevard for several hours, and the northbound lanes remained closed late Thursday.

Phil Champagne, a spokesman for the Denver Fire Department, said a semi hauling about 38,000 pounds of sulfuric acid was leaking the corrosive chemical as it drove along the interstate, and other motorists reported the leak.

Champagne called it a "considerable spill."

HACKENSACK —  A few gallons of waxing solution being delivered to Hackensack University Medical Center spilled on Prospect Avenue Monday morning leading fire officials to respond, but the chemical was determined not to be hazardous, an official said.


ELIZABETH LARA / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The solution spilled when CR Trucking of Carlstadt was making a delivery.
Lt. Steven Lindner, spokesman for the Hackensack fire department, said the solution spilled when CR Trucking of Carlstadt was making the delivery. The spill was seen after the driver had left the area, he said.

He said the Hackensack Fire Department, Police Department and the Bergen County HAZMAT team responded.  

“There is not going to be any criminal investigation, it was an accident is what it was and thankfully it wasn’t a toxic type of situation,’’ Lindner said.

The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department initially responded to a hazmat spill at 4:29 on the campus of the Medical College of Wisconsin Loading Dock. The Wauwatosa Fire Department Hazmat Unit responded, and determined a 300 gallon container of formaldehyde ruptured.

The Bainbridge Hazmat Team was called out on Sunday to a fuel spill at the Sharber Oil Terminal on Whigham Dairy Road.


General Manager Greg Waddell stated that at about lunchtime a hose disconnected from one of the main storage tanks at the facility.  A customer alerted the company and a cut off valve was shut to stop the flow.  Mr Waddell stated about 400 gallons of fuel spilled and drained into a ditch along the road.

Hazmat and Decatur County Fire responded and contained the area.  Greg Waddell stated that EPA had been notified and a contracted clean up crew was already on their way to complete the cleanup.

A spokesperson for Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue told Mix96 "Tuesday 16 November, 11.50am: Chemical incident - fumes given off following spillage of one litre container of nitric acid, Picts Lane, Princes Risborough. One appliance and crew from Princes Risborough and one from Aylesbury attended, along with the OSU (Operational Support Unit) from Great Missenden and the SEV (Specialist Equipment Vehicle) from Aylesbury.Firefighters used four sets of breathing apparatus, two gas-tight suits, one hose reel, sand and brushes to contain the spill and decontaminate the area. One man was taken to hospital suffering from the effects of breathing in fumes."

About 50 people had to be evacuated after a vehicle accidentally dropped commercial pesticide onto U.S. 29, causing a potentially dangerous toxic gas to form over the area.

At about 11:40 a.m. Tuesday, Danville police, fire and emergency services, as well as the hazardous materials team, responded to an area near the intersection of U.S. 58 and 29, where a pickup truck lost some of its load of magnesium phosphide, a chemical that fumes a toxic gas when combined with water.

Crews immediately isolated the area, and evacuated downwind residents for about a half-mile near Eastwood Drive and Kent Street.

FIREFIGHTERS were called to a chemical spillage at a printing firm in Pinvin on Saturday night.

Hereford and Worcester fire and rescue service went to Polestar Varnicoat, Station Road, Pinvin, at around 11pm after reports of a spillage of the solvent, toluene, mixed with water within the building and outside.

While staff from Polestar pumped the chemical into storage tanks, fire crews were on hand with foam jets in case of fire.

Siren speed questioned in aftermath of chemical spill. Emergency workers attend to the scene of a sulfuric acid leak at a chemical plant in southeast Scarborough on Wednesday, Nov. 3.. (November 3, 2010) Staff photo/NICK PERRY
This time, it was no drill.
When sirens sounded Wednesday, Nov. 3, following a sulfuric acid spill at a West Hill chemical plant, a warning system set up for area residents and tested many times faced its first real emergency.

Now, in addition to finding out what went wrong at Chemtura Canada, those responsible for the system must determine whether sirens sounded quickly enough.

Jack Horner, manager of the plant on Chemical Court, acknowledged Friday it "took quite a while before the siren got activated," estimating the warning came "something like" 15 minutes after the spill.

HUTCHINS - A hazardous material spill on Interstate 45 in Hutchins closed all northbound lanes this morning.

Northbound I-45 was expected to be shut down through the morning commute, the Texas Department of Transportation reports.

The spill happened about 7 a.m. near Dowdy Ferry Road when a large white drum fell off a vehicle.

The northbound lanes of Highway 99 are open again being closed for approximately three hours Tuesday afternoon. The northbound lanes of Highway 99 were closed at 3 p.m. at Avenue 328 near Traver due to a hazardous chemical spill.

Visalia Fire Department dispatched a hazardous-materials, or hazmat, team just after 3 p.m. to deal with what is described as a “chemical spill” on the northbound lanes of Hwy 99 at Traver, officials say.

Traffic on northbound Highway 99 was backed up to Highway 198. The California Highway Patrol responded to reports of an accident in the vicinity and motorists were advised to avoid the area and use alternate routes.

Emergency crews spent yesterday afternoon cleaning up a chemical spill at the Murray Goulburn milk processing factory at Leongatha.

The Country Fire Authority (CFA) says nitric acid leaked in a storage area at the factory yesterday morning.

Some Murray Goulburn workers tried to clean up the spill but were overcome by fumes.

Dozens of firefighters, along with staff from the Environment Protection Authority, were called to the factory.

CFA operations officer Simon Bloink says the clean-up was a delicate operation.

"Within that cleaning room there was other products. Part of the product was touching metalwork and there was a gas given off, so we just had to make sure that there was no gas present within that room before we could hand it back to Murray-Goulburn," he said.

CINCINNATI - Operations have returned to normal after a chemical leak forced an evacuation at the University of Cincinnati on Wednesday.

 

The incident happened in the Engineering Research Center on Woodside Drive around noon.

One student was treated for cuts from broken glass.

Officials have not said what kind of chemicals were invovled.

Students and faculty were allowed to return to the building around 2 p.m., according to University of Cincinnati police.

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.

CHINO - A chemical spill inside a laundry facility in a yard at the California Institution for Men sent one inmate to the hospital with chemical burns and caused minor injuries to six corrections officers.
Two other inmates were treated at the prison.
About seven inmates in the facility were medically evaluated and decontaminated, but did not receive any other injuries, said Lt. Mark Hargrove, spokesman for CIM.
Hargrove said an investigation is ongoing, but the spill would likely be determined an accident.
Inmates, he said, accidentally dropped a 55-gallon drum containing a liquid cleaning agent that had been approved for use by the state.

WAUSEON — Eastbound lanes of the Ohio Turnpike were closed in Fulton County Thursday afternoon due to a leak of nitric acid from a box truck.

There has been a large chemical spill at a laboratory on the outskirts of Hamilton.

Five fire trucks, police and ambulance crews have been at Ecolab just off Vickery Street in the suburb of Bryant Park for about an hour trying to contain the spill.

Fire communications shift manager Steve Smith says a large quantity of hydrogen peroxide has been spilt.

The laboratory has been evacuated while a clean up takes place.

A train carrying hydrogen peroxide derailed in Hamilton at about 9 a.m. Monday morning.

Monroe County Sheriff Andy Hood said his department had a report of the train derailment, off of Stovall Bottom Road, in a rural area.

Columbus Air Force Base's hazmat teams and the Columbus Fire Department responded to the scene and secured it for several hours before a contractor for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway took over.

"We had a trained get derailed and several cars come off the track. In those cars, we had three cars that were overturned and had hydrogen peroxide," said Martin Andrews, CFD battalion chief.

"Out of those three cars that were turned over, two were letting some of their contents out," Andrews said, noting this is a built-in mechanism, "so it wouldn't build up pressure and explode."

While household hydrogen peroxide is 2 to 3 percent, the chemical being transported was 50 and 70 percent, Andrews said.

PORT OF LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Three dock workers at the Port of Los Angeles have been hospitalized following a chemical spill on board a cargo ship Saturday.

The chemical is called xylenol and is sometimes used in pesticides. The leak was reported around 4 p.m. aboard the APL Sweden at Berth 303.

A fire department spokesman said the spill was only a couple of gallons, but three workers did have respiratory problems and were taken to the hospital.

No land-based evacuations were ordered, but the ship was evacuated while a hazardous materials team investigated.

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. 

PORT ST. LUCIE — Several thousand gallons of a diluted blend of reacted lime and calcium carbonate spilled after a tanker truck rolled over Wednesday morning, shutting down an intersection for hours as crews worked to clean up the tawny colored material, officials said.

“It is not in the least environmentally damaging or dangerous,” said Donna Rhoden, safety and public affairs manager for Port St. Lucie Utilities.

Rhoden said the truck had been northbound on Airoso Boulevard about 9:30 a.m. and was turning right onto St. James Drive to continue north. The city-contracted truck was hauling a diluted blend of reacted lime and calcium carbonate — a byproduct of a process at a city water treatment plant — to a drying bed or facility. She said several thousand gallons spilled, though said it was less than 6,000 gallons.

Hazmat crews are trying to determine what led to an apparent fuel leak into the Susquehanna River.

Emergency crews responded to a call Tuesday night about an odd-smelling slick on the river. Authorities believe it was some kind of fuel, possibly diesel. Workers deployed booms to isolate the slick.

Harrisburg fire Captain Mick Shrauder tells WHTM-TV that it's unclear if the slick was a result of a leak or came from a storm drain.

Harrisburg's water supply was not affected, but the water plant in Steelton farther down the river was shut down as a precaution.

About 2,000 gallons of chemical fertilizer spilled in the city's South Hill area Monday afternoon in the same area where a much larger spill damaged homes two years ago.

...
He said early reports indicate the spill "has no apparent impact to waterways and public areas to include the neighborhood."

Thibeault said the accident happened when a top feeder missed one of the rail cars, spilling about 2,000 gallons of the fertilizer. He said it was the same substance that washed through the neighborhood when a tank collapsed in November 2008, sending 2 million gallons of the corrosive chemical through the neighborhood.

Via Rail passengers travelling between Toronto and Montreal face delays until at least Tuesday afternoon after a CN freight train derailed near Cornwall on Monday.

Ashley Doyle, a Via Rail spokeswoman, said trains travelling between Toronto and Montreal are being rerouted through Ottawa and that some train service is being replaced with buses. The rerouting is adding about two hours’ travel time each way.

The derailment occurred at 9:50 a.m. Monday when 18 of the freight train’s cars went off the tracks. Six were carrying dangerous goods and one spilled about nine kilograms of sodium cyanide, said CN spokesman Jim Feeny.

“The spill is contained,” Feeny said, adding that a haz-mat team is on the scene disposing of the chemical.

The Inner Loop of the Beltway is closed between Old Georgetown Road and Rockville Pike due to an accident involving a tractor-trailer and a car.
The truck is overturned and in a wooded area off the highway.  The truck driver was still in the vehicle at last report.
The driver of the car was taken to a local hospital in serious condition.
Hazmat crews have been called to the scene due to a fuel leak from one of the truck's saddle tanks.

HYANNIS - Specially trained firefighters are still at the scene of a sodium hydroxide spill inside a water pumping station at 91 Smith St. in West Hyannisport.

The area of the spill has been contained and no evacuations have been ordered, Hyannis Fire Lt. Thomas Kenney said. Water service to residents and businesses in the area has not been affected.

However, because of the caustic nature of sodium hydroxide - a chemical used in water purification - the scene has been declared a Level 2 hazmat situation.

BUDAPEST, Hungary, October 15, 2010 (ENS) - Hungarian Police are interrogating a second suspect in Hungary's worst ecological disaster, the October 4 spill of toxic red sludge from an aluminum plant in western Hungary that killed at least eight people and injured more than 150 others. Fifty injured people are still hospitalized, including two in critical condition.

One of the executives of MAL Hungarian Aluminium Zrt, identified by police only as Jozsef D., is "subject to suspicion beyond reasonable doubt for criminal negligence, leading to public endangerment and environmental damages," the police said in a statement today.
...
According the the National Bureau of Investigation, "The suspect failed to prepare measures that were necessary for disaster relief efforts, as well as the protection of life, physical safety of people and assets during similar disasters and failed to establish defence structures, signalling and alarm systems that would mitigate the impact of such disasters."

SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) – The driver of an eighteen- wheeler told police that he noticed his load shift, and then pulled over in this Sutherlands parking lot on Mansfield road and 70th where he noticed a  leak.

 Emergency officials would determine that the liquid dripping onto the pavement was corrosive.

" It can do some damage to the flesh as a vapor," said Scott Wolverton, the Chief Safety Officer for the Shreveport Fire Department.

Nearby businesses, Sutherlands and McDonalds were evacuated.

"We was told that it was a bad gas spill and that we had to shut down but we don't know for how long," said Donald Jones, a McDonalds employee.

A drain was situated in the middle of the parking lot, a pathway to the city's water system.

OLYPHANT – Multiple agencies including the Lackawanna County Emergency Management Agency, the Olyphant Fire Department and the American Red Cross of Lackawanna County, responded to reports of a chemical spill in the Mid Valley Industrial Park Wednesday morning.

click image to enlarge
Emergency officials direct traffic at the intersection of East Lackawanna Avenue and Underwood Road in Olyphant late Wednesday morning.
Jason Riedmiller photo / For Go Lackawanna
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Mike Rusyn, assistant chief with the Liberty Fire Department, Olyphant, said crews responded to a peroxide spill from Insituform Technologies that was first called in at 9:30 a.m.

“When we were coming in to respond to the call, the sky was filled with a big, white cloud,” Rusyn said.

Multiple buildings along Mid Valley Drive were evacuated for reports of chemical odors in their buildings.

According to Rusyn, the peroxide had not been mixed with any other chemicals.

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

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

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

STAFF from businesses on the Crewe Gates Industrial Estate were evacuated after police and fire crews were called to a report of a chemical spillage.
The chemical, which has been identified as formic acid, is believed to have been spilled at around 7pm last night following a burglary at Newday House on First Avenue.
Police, who were called to the incident just before 7am this morning, have since studied CCTV footage and believe that the spillage was caused whilst the thieves stole containers which were holding the acid.
Cheshire Police, together with the Cheshire Fire & Rescue Service, placed a cordon in the immediate area and evacuated staff from local businesses whilst an assessment and removal of the substance took place.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Hazmat crews were called to investigate a chemical spill at the PepsiCo/Gatorade plant on the city's southwest side Thursday afternoon.

Two people were injured, though none of their injuries are severe, Decatur Township Fire officials said. One person complained of a headache and another was checked out at an on-campus clinic.

Fire crews had been called to the scene to investigate a smell on the back side of the building. Fire officials said 10 gallons of chlorine got into a trash compactor and reacted with something, though they're unsure what.

An open reservoir used to store toxic aluminium refining tailings breached Oct. 4 near Ajka, Hungary, flooding the country with an estimated 700,000 cubic meters of highly alkaline sludge that has killed at least four people, and seriously harmed hundreds of residents and the environment.  The Hungarian government has declared a state of emergency as toxic mud travels rapidly in tributaries towards the Danube River, facilitated by heavy rains and flooding.

The Ajkai Timfoldgyar Zrt refinery, where the catastrophe occurred, is owned by MAL Magyar Aluminium, which sells  aluminium for use in zeolites, glasses, ceramics, and other products used in the chemical industry, according to the company's website.

GILBERT, AZ - Crews worked for several hours Thursday night to clear the scene after a three-vehicle accident in Gilbert sent a teen to the hospital.

Gilbert Fire Department spokesman Mike Connor said crews were called to the wreck near Germann Road and Val Vista Drive around 6:30 p.m.

Connor said four of five patients evaluated at the scene were released. A 17-year-old boy reportedly suffered head injuries and a loss of consciousness and was airlifted to Scottsdale Healthcare-Osborn. His current condition is unknown.

A HAZMAT team was dispatched to the scene after a pickup truck involved in the accident rolled over, spilling pool chemicals onto the roadway.

A small spill in the science laboratory at Saunders Middle School in Manassas on Thursday morning forced the evacuation of two classes and sent three staff members to Potomac Hospital as a precaution, according to Prince William County School officials.

At around 9 a.m., students were preparing experiments when a student bumped into a jar containing “a chemical to preserve [animal] specimens,” said Middle School Associate Superintendent Pat Puttre.

As a precaution, those students as well as those in an adjacent room were sent to another classroom while members of the Prince William Fire & Rescue Hazmat team addressed the situation.

As of 11 a.m., the initial cleanup was done. School officials have an outside environmental cleaning agency on the way for a further investigation and cleanup.

The University of Minnesota evacuated a building Wednesday evening after a chemical spill sent two students to the hospital for observation.

University officials hoped to reopen the Phillips Wangensteen Building on Thursday once a hazardous material response team had cleaned up the spill.

Two students working with the chemical pyridine in a seventh-floor lab reported the spill about 6 p.m. Wednesday, Minneapolis Fire Battalion Chief Mike Carswell said. The students apparently were moving the toxic, highly flammable chemical when 2 to 4 liters spilled in the doorway, spreading into the lab and the hall.

If the liquid had spilled only in the lab, the fumes would have been vented outside, said Neil Carlson, university health and safety industrial hygienist. But because the spill entered the hall, emergency crews were concerned it could be carried to the rest of the building, prompting them to immediately evacuate the building's sixth, seventh and eighth floors. The rest of the building, which contains classrooms and labs, was evacuated as hazardous material crews came to clean up the spill.

The students, who suffered no apparent injuries, immediately covered the spill with dry material to contain it and the vapors, Carswell said. As a precaution, the students were taken to a decontamination van, where they showered. They were later hospitalized for observation.

Pyridine can irritate skin and the vapors can cause nausea and headaches, Carlson said.

D.C. Fire and EMS is reporting that one person was exposed to spilled acid at the D.C. Water Sewage Treatment Station in Southeast.

A male worker was being evaluated at the station at 125 O Street for possible chemical burns.

The acid spill is said to be contained to the loading dock area.

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

ROCHESTER, NY (WXXI) - Three people were hospitalized after a chemical spill at the University of Rochster Power Plant.
Rochester Fire Department Deputy Chief John Kearney says fire companies were called to the scene around 930 last night and were informed a spill of Chlorine Dioxide, a strong corrosive, was in the basement of the building.
Firefighters and representatives from the U of R and other agencies worked together to mitigate the situation.
One firefighter and two U of R workers were taken to area hospitals with non life-threatening injuries.
The situation was declared under control around 1:45 this morning.

A collision between a car and a diesel truck did not cause serious injury, but the fuel spill that resulted slowed traffic on Alabama Highway 14.
The wreck was near Edgewood Academy around 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Sheriff Bill Franklin said.
Volunteer firefighters from Elmore and Coosada responded to the accident.
The truck’s saddle tanks were ruptured, spilling about 75 gallons of diesel fuel on the road. Environmental protection rules consider that size of a diesel spill to be a hazardous materials situation, so the county’s HAZMAT team was summoned.

DUCHESNE — An unknown amount of crude oil has gotten past booms set up on the Strawberry River and entered the Duchesne River, authorities said Saturday.

The paraffin-based black wax crude, which is produced in the oil fields of the Uintah Basin, is now affecting about three to four miles along both rivers. It has not been detected at booms set up near Bridgeland, about 10 miles away from the spot where it is believed it was dumped in the river Friday, said Mike Lefler, director of Duchesne County Fire and Emergency Management.

Emergency crews set floating booms in the Strawberry River on Friday afternoon, after globs of a mystery petroleum product were seen sticking to the stream banks behind the Duchesne County Fairgrounds.

Mike Lefler, director of the County Fire and Emergency management office, said he is “pretty sure” the substance is oil but investigators are still trying to confirm that.

“It’s an ongoing investigation at this point into what’s happened,” Lefler said. “We’re not positive what it is.”

Lefler said booms and buoys appear to have contained the spill. Cleanup begins today. Enviro Care, Inc., an environmental cleanup company based in North Salt Lake, was called in to assist hazmat and fire crews from the county, Duchesne City and Myton City.

The impacted stretch of river runs through backyards and neighborhoods. Lefler said Friday evening no injuries had been reported so far. He added that he could see fish jumping in the stream in front of him as the sticky material gathered on the river’s edges.

Some people at the scene were identified as being with Chevron, but spokesman Dan Johnson said: “It’s not our spill.”

PHOENIX -- A quick response by Phoenix Fire Department's Hazmat Unit kept a fuel spill in one neighborhood from getting too bad Friday afternoon. However, it did close roads in the area for a few hours.
A truck carrying 8,500 gallons of unleaded fuel ran over a piece of equipment that had fallen off another semi and ruptured the tank. About 50 gallons of the fuel spilled into the street near 51st Avenue and Van Buren Street.
Crews were able to use piles of dirt and dikes to keep the fuel from getting into any of the storm drains in the area. The rest of the fuel was transferred into another truck.

RYE — Rye Country Day School was evacuated this morning after a teacher reported the smell of nitric acid in the building, fire officials said.

There were no injuries.

Fire officials responded to the school on Grandview Avenue around 10:25 a.m.

Nitric acid is yellowish liquid. It is highly corrosive and toxic. Its fumes are dangerous.

Construction workers, working in the chemistry room, may have tried to move one of the containers of acid and dropped it, fire officials said.

The container was removed by fire officials and students were able to go back into the school around 11:30 a.m.

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.

STOCKTON - The California Highway Patrol says it doesn't know how long it will take to clean up and make guard rail repairs after a big rig fire and spill on southbound Interstate 5 in Stockton.

CHP officers received reports about the fire and a possible bleach spill on the southbound lanes of I-5 near Pershing Avenue around 8:18 a.m.

It appeared the truck driver was attempting to cross from southbound I-5 to the Highway 4 Crosstown Freeway when his rig hit the guardrail and ended up half-dangling over the overpass.

According to Officer John O'Neil, the driver made it out of the truck.

"We have reports that there have been minor injuries to the driver." O'Neil said. "He has been transported to a local hospital."

CHP Officer Rich Wetzel said about 1,000 gallons of household bleach spilled onto the freeway and Weber Street.

ATLANTA, Ga. - Atlanta police say a chemical spill has forced them to close several roads in the midtown area.

Authorities say a 15-20 gallon drum containing herbicide or pesticide fell off a truck and spilled at Northside Drive and 17th Street NW on Tuesday morning. Atlanta fire crews were on the scene.

Sept. 17--The San Marcos Fire Department's hazardous materials team responded to a chemical leak that originated on the Texas State University campus Thursday morning.

Officials discovered around 7 a.m. that approximately 450 gallons of sulfuric acid used to clean equipment leaked from the university's physical plant on Sessom Drive.

They said that although a retention basin in place collected the majority of the acid, a "small amount" escaped.

Response crews washed the spilled chemical into nearby storm drains near the intersection of North LBJ Drive and Sessom Drive and used soda ash to render the acid inert, officials said.

Texas State spokesperson Jayme Blaschke said that while the drainage ultimately empties into the San Marcos River, the spill there was contained and a pumper truck removed the chemicals.

Country Fire Authority crews are working to contain a toxic chemical spill outside the water treatment plant at Maffra in Gippsland.

An acid used to add fluoride to the water supply is leaking from a tanker parked outside the plant.

Police have set up road blocks and children at a nearby primary school have been confined to their classrooms.

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

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

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

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

FORT ATKINSON, Wis. -- Eight people were taken to a hospital after a chemical spill inside a plant on the south side of Fort Atkinson on Tuesday morning.

Capt. Mark Schoenleber of the Fort Atkinson Fire Department said the call came in just after 5 a.m. on Tuesday.

Schoenleber said a valve broke on a 330-gallon container of a chemical containing phosphoric acid inside a Spacesaver plant on Janesville Avenue in Fort Atkinson. That caused the chemical to spill out onto the plant floor.

The plant was evacuated and firefighters called into the Jefferson County hazmat team to clean up the spill. They shut off the valve and power to the building.

"The actual chemical that was spilled had a less than 10 percent acid in it and was not very dangerous to the health of people, but initially we didn't know that," said Capt. Tom Gerondale, of the Fort Atkinson Fire Department.

According to Dan Moon with the Berkeley County Sheriff's department, a truck carrying highly explosive material overturned. Material spilled from the truck.

He says even a little spark can cause a major explosion. So they have evacuated homes and businesses along the road and in the area.

There are numerous officials on the scene, including officials from the Naval weapon station, coast guard, Berkeley County EMS and three fire departments