The Massachusetts state hazmat team suits up after a sulfuric acid spill at a Goddard Memorial Drive business.

Fire officials say a 250 gallon container of 50-percent sulfuric acid spilled Monday as workers were moving with a forklift and punctured it.

“It was punctured somewhere down about 6 inches from the bottom. A good deal spilled out and leaked on the asphalt,” says Deputy Chief John Sullivan.

The business, Pan-Glo New England, was evacuated.

MENLO PARK, Calif. — Firefighters investigating the source of a strong odor in downtown Menlo Park early Wednesday discovered a man was using a dangerous chemical to refine gold in the back of a pickup truck. San Mateo Fire Department spokesman Brian Molver said the incident began when a patrolling deputy saw a trunk ajar on a car parked on Edison Way.
“When he investigated that he got a whiff of a chemical smell that was coming from across the street from the back of a pickup truck,” Molver said. “The deputy was exposed to this fume and called in fire to investigate.”
Arriving firefighters noticed that something was going on in the back of the truck and called in a hazmat team.
“The person was refining gold in the back of the truck using electric heating units and the gold was in the beakers,” Molver said. “He was using chromatic acid and the county environmental health officer is following up with sheriff’s deputies and the fire department.” Chromatic acid is a mixture made by adding concentrated sulfuric acid to a dichromate, which may contain a variety of compounds, including solid chromium trioxide. It is used to brighten the metal but is considered carcinogenic.
It is rarely used industrially because of health and environmental concerns.

Workers evacuated a Salt Lake City chemical company after thousands of gallons of acid spilled Friday afternoon, but no one was injured.

The nearly 2,000 gallon spill happened at Brenntag Pacific about 1:30 p.m., said Salt Lake City Fire spokesman Jasen Asay.

Fire crews responded to the accident at 2334 W. Directors Row (1100 S), just west of Interstate-215.

Asay said sulfuric acid spilled after two workers were unloading the chemical from a rail car outside the facility and there was a "problem with the hose."

About 10 people inside the building evacuated before fire crews arrived. It was the only building evacuated.

"They followed proper procedure and did the right thing," Asay said.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - First responders in St. Paul are going through a condo complex after the discovery of chemicals in a basement storage area Thursday.

St. Paul Fire Marshall and spokesman Steve Zaccard tells KARE 11 that hazmat crews were summoned after the discovery of a 5-gallon bucket of sulfuric acid in the basement at 311 Pleasant Avenue.

Zaccard says the condo complex was once a hospital, but didn't know whether the chemicals had been present since then.

Fire crews removed the bucket. At this time it does not appear anyone was injured in the incident.

JOHOR BARU: A section of Km16 Jalan Johor Baru-Skudai had to be closed to traffic for three hours after two drums containing chemicals fell off a lorry.

The lorry was believed to be heading towards Johor Baru when the accident took place at around 9am yesterday.

Twenty-three firemen, including a hazmat (hazardous material) team from Taman Universiti Fire and Rescue Department, rushed to the site about 10 minutes later to retrieve the contents of the 1,800kg drums, believed to be sulphuric acid, which spilled onto the road.

Fire operations commander C. Kesavan said the drums were leaking when his men arrived.

Bartow, Florida -- An accident leading to an sulfuric acid spill shut down a major road in Polk County for several hours Tuesday, and the driver of the truck carrying those corrosive chemicals had to be airlifted to Tampa.

Hazmat workers, wearing protective suits, worked for hours neutralizing and then removing the acid, which had soaked the pavement and penetrated the soil along Highway 60 north of downtown Bartow.

A thousand gallons of the material somehow spilled from a flat-bed operated by Davis Supply out of Ft. Myers with an office in Lake Wales.

BRICK — Emergency crews responded Thursday morning to a Reedy Drive home for a report of a house that had become filled with fumes.

The culprit: a clogged commode.

The resident of the home, 74-year-old Robert Byrne, had poured bleach into a stopped-up toilet in his upstairs bathroom the previous night, according to Capt. John E. Rein Jr. of the township police. Noticing Thursday morning that the bleach didn’t do the trick, Byrne dumped sulfuric acid into the toilet.

The chemical mixture set off an alarming reaction, causing a foam buildup and fumes to fill the home, Rein said. The fumes caused Byrne breathing difficulties and he was sent to Ocean Medical Center in town for treatment. His dog, too, was affected by the exposure and was turned over to a relative, Rein said.

HENDERSON COUNTY, N.C. - The Henderson County Sheriff’s office says both directions of Interstate 26 in Henderson County are closed following an accident involving a tanker Tuesday night.
A Sheriffs dispatcher tells News 4 the tanker that was carrying sulfuric acid when it crashed and caught fire near East Flat Rock and mile marker 56.

Hazmat crews are on scene and working to secure the area, but that process could take hours.

Officials say the road may be open again by noon.

Evacuations were order for homes within a mile and half of the accident. The Western Carlolinas chapter of the Red Cross set up a shelter at First Baptist Church in Hendersonville. Red Cross officials say 2 people showed up to the shelter so it has been closed.

Drivers headed out on Interstate 26 in Henderson County are asked to use the following detour:

Westbound: Use Exit 59, and proceed onto US 176 West. Motorists with then take US 25 North and back onto I-26 West at exit 54.

Eastbound:Use Exit 54 onto US 25 South and proceed into South Carolina. Motorists will then take South Carolina Highway 11 East back onto I-26 East.

The Highway Patrol said the Green River bridge will need to be inspected for damage before it is reopened.

Continue to refresh this page for updates.

A battery acid spill this morning resulted in fire crews being called to a generator room that provides power to Joint Communications and the Columbia Police Department.

Shortly after 8 a.m., firefighters responded to a report of smoke coming from the generator room at 17 N. Seventh St. The generator, which provides backup power for police and Joint Communications, failed to start during a routine test, according to a Columbia Fire Department news release. Fire crews found a battery next to the generator had failed and leaked battery acid on nearby equipment. A hazardous-materials team cleaned up the area and removed items requiring decontamination.

Two city employees who were exposed to smoke and fumes were being medically evaluated, the news release said. A cause of the battery's failure had not been determined this morning, and a damage estimate was not yet available.

A worker was critically injured at a Temecula industrial plant Wednesday morning when he dropped two glass jars filled with sulfuric acid, fire officials said.
The accident was reported shortly before 10:30 a.m. at Optiforms Inc., at 42310 Winchester Road, a Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department news release said.
The worker apparently slipped and dropped the jars, which shattered and spilled the acid, the release said.
The worker fell onto the broken glass and acid, fire officials said. According to a preliminary report, the worker cut his hand on the glass and suffered second-degree burns from the acid over 18 percent of his body, including his shoulder and back.

United States (Texas) - Thousands of people, mostly maquiladora workers, were evacuated as the Juarez Fire Department tried to control a huge fire started at a chemical storage, officials said. Law enforcement officials closed Bermudez Industrial Park, near Industrias Avenue, authorities said. Motorist were advised to seek alternative routes.
The fire started around 9:45 a.m. today at the Margopool Warehouse, said Efren Matamoros, Juarez director of environment Services.

"Their situation is dangerous because there is a potential for an explosion over there," Matamoros said in a telephone interview. "So we had to close the streets and evacuate many people."

Matamoros said he doesn't know how many people were evacuated. Fire investigators are trying to establish the cause of the fire.

That warehouse stores explosive chemicals like thinner and sulfuric acid, among other substances, Matamoros said.

Kansas Department of Health and Environment is urging Kansans to avoid Lime Creek in Herington because of contamination.

Officials discovered Sunday night that sulfuric acid was leaking from a rail yard. The specific area is from US-56 highway north to Avenue 1000.

Officials estimate that almost 11,000 gallons of sulfuric acid have spilled into Lime Creek.

Residents, their livestock and their pets should avoid that body of water for recreational or drinking purposes. In addition, KDHE and the Dickinson County Emergency Management agency have alerted property owners downstream who use the area for cattle watering.

An acid spill at Orica's Port Kembla chemical plant was the latest in a decade-long series of breaches, it has been revealed.
Nearly 4000 litres of sulphuric acid were found leaking from the Foreshore Rd Plant on Friday, triggering an angry response from the NSW Government and fresh public scrutiny of the beleaguered chemical maker.

The incident was the sixth at Orica since its Kooragang Island plant showered carcinogenic chemicals over the Newcastle suburb of Stockton in August.

However, a wider analysis of pollution records shows Friday's incident was the 148th licence breach at the Port Kembla site since 2000.

Several roads around Thatcher were closed for hours Monday morning after a Bulk Transportation tank trailer intermittently leaked sulfuric acid from the intersection of Highway 70 and Norton Road to the Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. Safford mine.
...

Bulk Transportation terminal manager Todd Donham allegedly told a Sheriff's Office Lieutenant that the truck driver failed to seal the tanker's lid correctly, and acid escaped every time the truck stopped or turned.

GASTONIA, N.C. -- The Gastonia Fire Department said they responded to a sulfuric acid leak from a 55-gallon drum in the back of a  tractor-trailer Tuesday afternoon.

Fire officials said the driver turned off Interstate 85 when he heard the drum over-turn. He pulled the truck off at the intersection of North Chester and New Way Roads and discovered a small leak of sulfuric acid solution.

The Gastonia Fire Department’s Hazmat team responded and packaged the container in an over-pack drum to contain the leak.  The drum was sealed and a hazmat clean up company removed it to a safer location, according to the press release.

Dec. 6 (Bloomberg) -- JFE Holdings Inc., Japan’s second- largest steelmaker, said there was no impact on operations from a fire today at its Chiba mill.

There were no injuries from the fire, which was extinguished at 12:24 p.m. Tokyo time, Toru Iwamoto, a spokesman for the company’s JFE Steel unit, said by phone.

The fire occurred in a three-story storage facility on the mill grounds, damaging an area of 1,000 square meters, said Hidetoshi Miho, a spokesman for the Chiba City fire department. The cause is still being investigated, he said.

This is the second fire at the Chiba facilities within four days. Four workers were injured by an explosion at JFE Chemical Co.’s sulfuric acid tank on Dec. 2.

JFE fell 4.1 percent to 1,464 yen at 1:50 p.m. in Tokyo, the most in two weeks.

JFE Holdings Inc., Japan’s second- largest steelmaker, said its steel mill in Chiba, near Tokyo, is operating normally after four workers were injured by an explosion at JFE Chemical Co.’s sulfuric acid tank.
The explosion, which occurred within the site of JFE’s steel works at 9:55 a.m., Japan time, didn’t cause a fire and hasn’t impacted steel production, spokesman Seiji Iwashita said today by telephone.
JFE is investigating the cause of the accident, he said. JFE Chemical is a wholly owned unit of JFE.

Tuesday at 3:08 p.m. HazMat teams from the Casa Grande and Eloy fire departments responded to Mission Heights Preparatory High School, 1376 E. Cottonwood Lane, after a science experiment resulted in an endothermic reaction. A fire department spokesman said students were conducting an experiment to see how chemicals mixed together create heat. The chemicals used were sulfuric acid, isopentyl alcohol and potassium permanganate. A fire ignited and was put out before the fire departments arrived. The school was safely evacuated and no one was reported hurt.

A 51-year-old man from Coventry was taken to hospital after being overcome by chemical fumes while attempting to clean his house on Sunday.

The man brushed a sulphuric acid compound on bathroom tiles at the property in Brays Lane before spraying bleach over the top.

A spokesman for West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service said the two combined to give off a "pungent gas".

Two other people in the house were unaffected by the fumes.

Bill Gough from the fire service said the man, who has since recovered, called them at about 15:00 GMT and that firefighters wearing breathing apparatus had diluted the mixture.

"What we would say to people is read the labels on the tins, bottles and jars of these particular chemicals because they do give in their instructions for use a warning that they shouldn't be used with any other cleaning fluids," Mr Gough added.

Five people, four men and one women walking on the road side, outside the Grosvenor Hotel, near to Buckingham Palace were sprayed with sulphuric acid. The acid was being into a lorry when it started leaking from lorry’s back side.

These passersby were so close that they inhaled the acid and soon started to exhibit the reaction. They complaint of headache and sore throat on which three ambulance crews, response team, police and the fire brigade were called on the scene.

They attended them and gave first aid and took them to St Thomas’ Hospital, where they are being treated. It is said that vehicles which crossed the road at that moment elevated the level of acid.

Fire Brigade spokesperson present on the scene also affirmed the same thing that they received complaint about the lorry acid spill and when they reached at the spot, vehicles has made the scene even more awful.

A teenage boy who suffered significant acid burns to his face was doing experiments in his Wellington suburban garage when a beaker of sulfuric acid exploded.

The 13-year-old boy was with a friend in the Kilbirnie garage about noon on Saturday when they mixed an unknown chemical with the acid, Wellington City Council spokesman Richard MacLean said.

"When the two things got mixed, it exploded a beaker and that's how it ended up on his face."

The boy was rushed by ambulance in a serious condition to Hutt Hospital, which has a specialist burns unit, and had surgery on Saturday afternoon, a hospital spokeswoman said.

He had improved to a stable condition yesterday.

Five fire engines attended the scene, with firefighters donning protective suits to cleanup the chemicals.

Mr MacLean said a council hazardous substance officer had also attended, and spoke to the boy's friend. "It sounds like his friend wasn't hurt. His friend said they were just pottering around, doing a few experiments."

Police seized some of the chemicals, Mr MacLean said.

"Our people will be working with police on it because the question has to be, just what chemicals were there?"

Yesterday, a neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said loud explosions had been heard from the Crawford Rd property periodically over the past two years.

EXETER, N.H.—A New Hampshire high school had to be evacuated after a chemical spill that sent three staff members to the hospital. No students were injured.

Classes were cancelled at the Exeter High School at about noon on Tuesday after the chemical was discovered near the school's loading dock.

Principal Vic Sokul told The Portsmouth Herald that a custodian using a trash compactor noticed a strong smell and notified school administrators.

School officials then called the fire department, which advised that the school be evacuated.

Sokul said no students were exposed to the chemical, which emergency responders believe was sulfuric acid from a container that was placed in the trash compactor.

Exeter Fire Chief Brian Comeau said three high school workers were taken by ambulance for possible chemical exposure.

Hazmat crews were cleaning up tonight after 150 to 200 gallons of sulfuric acid spilled at a sewage treatment facility on Deer Island, Boston fire officials said.

Firefighters received a report of the spilled sulfuric acid, which is used to break down sewage, at the Deer Island Treatment Plant at 7:45 p.m., Boston Fire spokesman Steve MacDonald said.

The acid overflowed out of an outdoor holding tank, with some leaking onto the surrounding pavement, but workers were able to shut off a valve before more of it spilled, MacDonald said.

No one was injured, he said.

INDIANAPOLIS -- A Hancock County restaurant and hotel were evacuated Monday after a tractor-trailer spilled sulfuric acid nearby, police said.
State police stopped the truck just after 4:30 p.m. in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 70 at the exit to State Road 9.
Hazmat crews were called to the scene after it was determined that the truck’s trailer was leaking a small amount of sulfuric acid.

Authorities responded to the scene of a chemical leak at an Asheville trucking company this morning.

An Asheville Fire Department spokesperson says emergency crews were called to Conway Trucking off Swannanoa River Rd. around 8:30 this morning after sulfuric acid began leaking from a 55 gallon drum in a truck.

Haz-Mat members found the leak on the bottom of the barrel. Crews flipped it over and were able to contain the leak.  The company's building was evacuated as a precaution.  There were no injuries reported.

SULLIVAN, MO (KMOX) - West bound I-44 was closed for most of Friday night while a Hazmat team cleaned up an acid spill in the Sullivan area.

A truck carrying sulfuric acid was leaking and pulled over by Sullivan police. 

One officer suffered breathing problems and was taken to a hospital, but police tell KMOX he has been taken off of a breathing apparatus and is doing well.

Jackson Co. Sheriff's Office (Press Release) - On June 8, 2011 shortly before 4 p.m. the Jackson County Sheriff's Office Emergency Dispatch Center received a report of a semi unit which had crashed on State Hwy 121 near NW Burnette Rd in the Town of Garden Valley in Jackson County.

It was relayed that the truck was hauling shipping containers of sulfuric acid and caustic soda and there was a reported leak in at least one of the sulfuric acid containers. Units from Alma Center FD, Alma Center 1st Responders, Black River Falls FD &EMS, Jackson County Sheriff's Office and Wisconsin State Patrol responded to the scene along with the Jackson County Level B Hazmat team. The Regional Level A Hazmat Team from Eau Claire was also requested and responded to the scene to assist.

TULSA - Tulsa HAZMAT crews are cleaning up a chemical spill at a warehouse near downtown, officials say.

A mixture of silver cyanide and sulfuric acid was spilled at a building near 12th and South Frankfort.

An employee inhaled the mixture and was treated by EMSA. Officials say the mixture can also be absorbed though the skin.

Silver cyanide is used in silver-plating.

A chemical spill that created noxious fumes sent two people to the hospital and closed two business warehouses in Nesquehoning on Friday morning.

Nesquehoning Police Officer Timothy Wuttke said an emergency response call for a sick male came in at 9:40 a.m. from Ametek Winchester Plastics on Mountain Avenue in the borough.

At the scene, Wuttke said emergency responders found two sick men, both of whom had accidentally inhaled fumes from a chemical that spilled during a delivery of supplies at the plastics manufacturing facility.

Wuttke said Ametek's delivery area was wet with rain Friday when the chemical - maleic anhydrid - spilled. Mixed with water, maleic anhydrid becomes maleic acid.

"Apparently when they were unloading the shipping container, the package opened and the substance spilled out. When it comes in contact with water, which it did, it releases fumes that are hazardous when inhaled," Wuttke said.

PORT HOPE, Ont. – Sunday's train derailment east of Port Hope, Ont., could have unleashed a "perfect storm" due to the hazardous materials being transported, a firefighter said.

The 12:15 p.m. derailment just east of Port Hope, 109 kilometres east of Toronto, sparked an evacuation order that affected about two dozen homes in a rural area.

Train cars involved in the derailment include one containing propane, two with aviation fuel, one carrying residual sulphuric acid and two with residual petroleum. As well, a natural gas line was reportedly ruptured.

At least one tanker could be seen burning approximately a half-kilometre away and sparked a grass fire.

Flames were still coming from the area late Sunday.

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) – Several businesses and homes were temporarily evacuated in Slaton on Wednesday because of a chemical spill at the Slaton Rail Park.

The regional hazmat crew was called out around 3:15 p.m. after a bystander saw a rail car leaking a fluid, which crews identified as sulfuric acid.

Slaton Fire Department and Police also responded to the spill where rail road authorities estimate about 50 gallons of sulfuric acid leaked. The rail car is capable of carrying 90,000 pounds, but hazmat crews quickly contained the leak and residents were allowed back in the their homes.

STOCKTON— Hazmat crews were called to control a sulfuric acid leak at an ethanol plant in Stockton Tuesday afternoon.

Just after Noon, the Pacific Ethanol plant called emergency crews about the leak of the highly flammable acid.

The leak was from a joint on a 5,000-gallon tank at the Stockton plant along Navy Drive.

Pacific Ethanol was not evacuated, but workers are being kept away from the area of the leak. A police training facility is nearby, they stopped their exercises for safety reasons.

The crews were able to slow the leak, not completely stop it. But the leaking acid is being contained, and is not a risk at this time.

WORKERS HAD to be evacuated from a factory in Co Clare early yesterday after 250 litres of sulphuric acid were accidentally spilled inside the plant.

The alarm was raised at about 6.30am when staff reported the spill in a storage area at the rear of an Essilor Ireland plant on the outskirts of Ennis.

The company, known as Organic Lens Manufacturing, produces ophthalmic corrective lenses and is located in the Gort Road industrial estate where it employs more than 300 workers.

About 50 staff were working at the time and they were quickly evacuated to emergency meeting points outside the plant where management carried out a roll call to ensure that everyone was accounted for. The company’s emergency response team was deployed pending arrival of the emergency services.

Tucson, AZ—A semi-truck collision on Arizona 77 injured four people and spilt sulfuric acid onto the highway on Monday, July 19, 2010. The crash occurred around 9:15 a.m., at milepost 120 along Arizona 77, just six miles north of Mammoth, reports the Arizona Daily Star.
Arizona Department of Public Safety officials stated a tractor-trailer hauling the hazardous materials and pick-up truck collided on the northbound lane of Arizona 77. Officials have yet to say what exactly caused the crash or who was at fault.
Four people were injured in the wreck and were airlifted by responding emergency crews to a hospital for treatment of their non-life threatening injuries. The identities of the victims are currently being withheld. Officials did not say if the driver of the semi was among those who were injured.
The crash caused tractor-trailer to begin leaking sulfuric acid, which can be very corrosive. Hazmat crews were called to scene to clean-up the acid.
The DPS shut down the highway in both directions while hazmat crews cleaned up the spill, and while investigations were underway.

A crash Monday morning resulted in a hazardous materials spill injured four people and slowed traffic on a highway northeast of Tucson, authorities said. 
The crash happened about 9:15 a.m. on Arizona 77 at milepost 120, six miles north of Mammoth, and involved a tractor trailer and a pickup truck, the Arizona Department of Public Safety said.
The trailer was carrying sulfuric acid which leaked out of the rig and required hazmat crews to respond, DPS said.
The road remained open in both directions during the cleanup, and traffic was routed around the collision area, DPS said.
The four people injured were flown to area hospitals, but none of their injuries were considered life-threatening, DPS said.

BUCKEYE -- Two employees were hospitalized after they were burned at a chemical plant Tuesday morning.
According to Chief Bob Costello of the Buckeye Fire Department, the two Thatcher Chemical Company employees were working on a pipeline when some sulfuric acid spilled, spraying them in the face.
One of the employees received serious injuries and was airlifted to Maricopa Medical Center. The other was also burned and was taken to the medical center by ground ambulance.