Yourlawyer.com (Chemical Spills News)

West Pennsylvania Chemical Leak Causes Evacuation of 2,500

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Authorities in western Pennsylvania evacuated about 2,500 people due to “a hazardous mile-long cloud from a corrosive material leak at a chemical plant,” the Associated Press (AP) is reporting.

The leak took place at the Indspec Chemical Corporation plant located in Petrolia, Pennsylvania. Butler County emergency officials said the leak was reported just before 5:00 p.m. this past Saturday. The plant’s manager, Dave Dorko, confirmed that a material called oleum, which is similar to sulfuric acid, overflowed from a tank and instantly evaporated into the air. Indspec Chemical Corporation produces a bonding agent for the tire industry.

Oleum is a harsh reagent, is highly corrosive, can cause severe eye and skin burns, is harmful if inhaled, and is irritating to the to the respiratory system. Oleum may also cause nose, throat, and lung injury; lung injury can be delayed. Concentrated oleum will react with many organic materials and may also cause fire due to the heat of the reaction and although not considered flammable, oleum will react to most metals to form explosive hydrogen gas. Oleum is also referred to as fuming sulfuric acid and has important uses in the manufacture and transfer of sulfuric acid compounds. When added to water, it does not dissolve, but rather, reacts violently and tends to form a fine mist of sulfuric acid, which is difficult to manage. In 1993, a significant oleum release occurred that absorbed moisture from the atmosphere, creating a mist of micrometer-sized sulfuric acid particles that formed an inhalation health hazard and produced adverse health effects on residents and workers over a wide area of California. Oleum, is an oily liquid that is colorless to clear amber and is clear to slightly cloudy.

The AP reported that Freda Tarbell, spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said authorities were concerned about the potential for respiratory damage and skin burns, adding that a team with the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was dispatched to the area from Wheeling, West Virginia to monitor air quality. Authorities went door-to-door to warn the 2,500 people living in a three-mile radius around the plant to evacuate because of the oleum cloud, the AP said.

About 250 people were forced into shelters in nearby Karns City, North Washington, and Bruin, and officials said the rest likely went to stay with family. Red Cross officials said they expected to shelter only 50 to 100 people overnight. Dorko reported that all 30 plant employees were evacuated and there were no injuries. Meanwhile, authorities reported that three residents were taken to hospitals with apparent respiratory problems.

The dense oleum cloud was reported as moving west and close to the ground late Saturday night. While additional evacuations were not planned, residents in the cloud's path were advised to remain inside; close doors, windows, and vents; shut down any system that draws air from the outside; and extinguish any fires in fireplaces. The plant will remain closed until the clean up is completed.

Chemical Fire Sends People Fleeing

Mon, 07 May 2007 00:00:00 -0700

Questions remained Monday night after a chemical fire broke out earlier in the day near the airport. The fire started at Lawrence Tile and Marble Company in the 1700 block of Lochearn. One Memphis firefighter suffered breathing problems, but is okay.

The smoke could be seen from Downtown Memphis.

Employees said a tanker unloading the chemical resin spilled and sparked the fire. Resin is used to make tubs and counter tops. However, fire investigators have not officially confirmed the cause of the fire.

Workers inside Lawrence Tile say hallways were filled with smoke and there was a lot of confusion. None of the workers were injured.

Lawrence Tile and Marble is at the end of a road mainly occupied by businesses. While many companies were not officially evacuated, the fear of a chemical explosion sent people running.

Businesses and their employees were worried about the many tanker trucks in the area once the fire started. Though the fire department said the chemical inside the truck posed no health hazard, some people in the area said it was better to be safe than sorry.

Secretary Dawn Gilreath said when she heard there was a fire at her work, she packed up and went for the door. With a chemical tanker truck used by the company parked outside the burning building, she quickly spread the word.

"Running out trying to let everyone know on the street that we had a fire and they needed to leave too," said Gilreath.

Under a black sky and fearing an explosion, Gilreath said she started knocking on nearby doors. Around that time, employees of EnviroRem happened to see a crowd of people moving down the street.

"Just about that time a police officer pulled up and asked us to vacate the area because of the fire going," Project Manager Charles Powell said.

Powell said he and others gathered on the corner, getting pushed back at least once because of spreading smoke. Despite the flames though, the truck never ignited. The fire department said the tile company's chemicals were not hazardous and the only mandated evacuation was a preschool.

"The other businesses were actually told to protect in place. Keep the doors and windows closed," said Fire Marshall Ronald Brown.

The fire burned for more than an hour and fire crews battled hot spots throughout the day.

The damage looks extensive, but Dawn Gilreath took comfort in the escape to safety she and others took.

"We have a fire escape route in place and they did exactly what they're supposed to," said Gilreath.

People working in the area were out of their offices for about two and a half hours. Many of the children at the preschool were picked up by their parents.

Explosion rocks Danvers, several hurt, none seriously

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0800

A major chemical explosion at an industrial park in Danvers shook several North Shore towns this morning, knocking homes off foundations and damaging buildings up to 1/4 mile away, according to witnesses and fire officials.

At least 10 people have been taken to local hospitals, but no one was killed and none of the injuries are life-threatening, said Danvers Fire Chief Jim Tutco.

People felt the blast as far away as New Hampshire, and State Representative Theodore C. Speliotis called it a "miracle" that no one died. "There's no other word for it," Speliotis said

The explosion at about 2:45 a.m. at the CAI, Inc. company shattered windows, knocked in doors and leveled several homes and businesses, damaging an estimated 60 buildings. Fire has been restricted to the chemical plant in the Danversport industrial park where solvents and ink are produced.

Frances Fratus heard a noise that sounded like "thunder" that knocked her out of bed. She looked out her window about 500 yards from the explosion and saw "a giant ball of fire, going up about 100 feet in the air."

"The impact blew in all our cellar windows and my front door was blown out," said Fratus, 63.

A man who answered the telephone at CAI's plant in Georgetown refused to comment on the explosion. He said that the company is waiting to find out more from investigators, and then hung up the telephone.

No one could be reached for comment at the Danvers plant.

The industrial park is along the Danvers River off Route 35, near the Peabody town line. At least three homes and several businesses were nearly leveled and dozens more homes were damaged, according to Town Manager Wayne Marquis.

Some of the homes near the blast site may need to condemned, Marquis said. Entire roofs were blown off the Danversport bakery and pizza factory.

"You won't be buying your holiday rolls there," said State Fire Marshall Stephen Coan.

Residents described an earthquake-like explosion. Authorities closed off nearby roads and tried to control the crowds as people wandered into the streets. Some described a huge mushroom cloud hovering over the area.

As the sun rose, homeowners began assessing damage. Cracks stretched across the walls of Richard and Cindy Parker's house on Water Street, about a block from the explosion. Windows were blown out of frames, and Richard Parker had to axe their way out the front door because the force of the blast had twisted the frame. Objects fell off counters and shelves. The impact knocked ash out of the chimney, spewing it acorss the living room floor.

"It felt like something actually hit the house," said Richard Parker, who was asleep with his wife in the second floor bedroom. The clock popped off the wall and stopped at 2:45 a.m.

Representatives from the state fire marshal's office and the US Environmental Protection Agency were on the scene, along with state police, and firefighters and ambulance crews from Middleton, Wenham, and many other North Shore communities.

Alan Farell was sleeping in a downstairs bedroom about 100 yards away when the explosion blew in his windows.

"It was God awful," said Farell, who ran outside because he thought his own home was on fire.

Tom Russo lives on Endicott Street about a half mile away when h his windows cracked and his doors flew open.

"I was in bed watching television. It rolled me right out of bed," Russo said.

Residents are being evacuated by bus to Danvers High School, where the Red Cross is setting up a shelter. About 60 people from the nearby New England Home for the Deaf have also been evacuated. School in Danvers has been cancelled for the day.

Outside Beverly Hospital, Trisha Lynch, 22, stood wrapped in a blanket. Lynch and she and her fiancé, Fred Grenier, were asleep on the second floor of a home on Bates Street about 150 yards from the explosion. .

"I thought a plane had crashed," said lynch, who had brought in a relative who needed stitches on her face.

Coan, the State Fire Marshall, said it was too early to speculate what caused the explosion.

Halliburton spill results in acid cloud More than 220 people evacuated to mall

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0700

When the air became thick with the smell of vinegar Monday night, Luis Lopez said he found his wife in the kitchen and asked her if she had spilled a bottle of the liquid.

Learning that his wife had not, Lopez, 42, of Farmington, said alarms went off in his head.

"I said, 'Whoa, this is not good.'"

Lopez, who lives on Gila Street near Halliburton Energy Services, said he works for Ark Sales and Service, an oil company in Flora Vista. He said his training in oil field safety has taught him to recognize chemical threats by using his sense of smell.

The smell that alarmed Lopez turned out to be an acid cloud that occurred at Halliburton at approximately 10 p.m., said Mike Mestas, hazardous materials team coordinator for the Farmington Fire Department.

"What we were dealing with last night was approximately 600 gallons of acidic acid with 10 percent acidic and anhydride solution," he said.

Halliburton employees were mixing acid in a concrete containment area when a spill occurred, said Farmington Fire Chief Robert Martin.

The spill was a non-issue, he said, but the vapor cloud that resulted was dangerous.

"The acid reacted with something the cloud was an irritant, I believe the flash point is 103 degrees," he said.

"It may cause eye, skin and respiratory burns, may be harmful if swallowed, it is combustible, and it reacts violently with water, and has a flash point of 103 degrees," Mestas said. "The temperature was 93 degrees last night, 10 more degrees and it would (have) burst into flames."

Martin said that residents in the area were not in danger of being asphyxiated by the cloud. The acid vapors were not concentrated enough to be much more than an irritant, he said, adding, however, that the problem was that "everyone reacts differently."

Mestas said the chemical's trade name is Acidizing Composition, an anhydride acid. He said they use the acid for fracturing gas wells. Halliburton had a 600-gallon tank of the chemical, of which 30 to 60 gallons leaked, he said.

Had all 600 gallons leaked, he added, it would have created a "big major acid cloud that would have worked its way south."

At 10:20 p.m., Farmington police officers drove through the two trailer parks adjacent to Halliburton grounds on Gila Street, according to Mestas. Authorities told residents to shut off their swamp coolers and to shut their windows. This measure, called "sheltering in place," lasted for less than 20 minutes after which Farmington Police evacuated the area, he said.

By 12:30 a.m., Red Cross estimated that authorities evacuated more than 220 people to two locations: the Animas Valley Mall and Gateway Park.

"This (was) a Hazmat Level 2 emergency," said Gordon Bennett, disaster action team coordinator for the Red Cross. "I've been with the Red Cross for 15 years and I have never had this situation before."

Red Cross set up what Bennett called a "comfort station" in the Animas Valley Mall parking lot. They offered coffee, snacks and other comforts.

The mall became the evacuation location because it was large and could provide evacuees with shelter, said Farmington Police Chief Mike Burridge.

Though the Red Cross served whoever approached the comfort station, some of the evacuees were not pleased with the relief services offered to them.

Angel Castillo, 15, was huddled in the back of a flat-bed truck with her two sisters and their two children. Angel said she felt "horrible," nauseous. She had been vomiting clear liquid in the parking lot for several hours.

Latisha Castillo, Angel's 23-year-old sister, said Angel was outside wringing clothes when the "cloud" appeared. She said Angel became sick almost instantly.

Angel said when she sought help from the Red Cross, they told her to go to the hospital.

"I didn't want to go to the hospital, I wanted to stay here with my sisters," she said, adding the Red Cross should have provided more on-site services. "They didn't even have aspirin."

Lillian Rose, executive director of the Red Cross, said they have to operate under certain legal regulations.

"The legalities of handing out even an aspirin (are strict)," she said. "It is just the way it works."

Phillishia Castillo, 26, the oldest sister, said she and her two sisters were upset at the emergency evacuation. She criticized Animas Valley Mall administration for not letting evacuees use the facilities.

"What was the point of bringing us here if (they won't) even open up the restrooms?" Latisha added. "It's kind of rude. The least they could do is open up the bathrooms. People are sick."

Gila Street residents resorted to urinating in remote corners of the parking lot when they were refused access to the mall's facilities.

Bryan Charlie, 28, said the situation was "unbelievable."

"I went to the food court (at the mall) and they were not letting people in," he said. "I wish they had something here, a food stand, a port-a-potty, something."

Jeff Ring, general manager of the Animas Valley Mall, said in a phone interview Tuesday that the mall was not prepared to be a relocation site.

"Basically we weren't prepared to have a bunch of people inside the mall at 1:30 in the morning," he said. "We were glad to let them use the parking lot, we just weren't prepared to do that (open the mall) on such short notice."

Ring said by the time they would have opened the mall, the situation would have been over.

"We probably would like to visit with the police department if we are to be a site for the future," he said. "With a little planning (it could work)."

As many evacuees as there were who criticized the mall for failing to cooperate, there were also critics of Halliburton.

"Halliburton needs to be more careful," said Susan Murphy, 55, who lives on Gila Street. "This is a residential neighborhood."

Phillishia Castillo said something needs to be done about this accident.

"My brother works at Halliburton. He needs to call up his boss and put him on track," she said. "How could they have an acid spill at Halliburton?"

The Farmington Fire Department plans on seeking reimbursement from Halliburton for the expense of their services, according to Martin.

"What we are going to do we're going to bill them for our services. I am guessing, but right off the top of my head (it will cost) $10,000," he said.

Halliburton stated in a release that they are investigating circumstances surrounding the incident.

E.P.A. fuming after toxic spill

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0700

The large black cloud spewed Monday night by a chemical reaction gone bad inside a tanker truck at Romic Environmental Technologies has long since dissipated. But as of Tuesday evening, the unstable chemical brew still posed a threat, according to Harold Schapelhouman, deputy chief of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District.

"The volatility of the substance is really a problem," said Schapelhouman. "Romic needs to empty the truck, but the truck isn't stable."

A Romic spokesman, Chris Stampolis, assessed the situation differently on Tuesday evening: "In terms of pressure in the unit, it's zero. And the tank is cool to the touch," he said.

On Monday around 10:45 p.m., East Palo Alto police issued a shelter-in-place warning for residents living within one-half mile of the solvent-recycling plant at 2081 Bay Road. Police drove down streets warning residents through loudspeakers to stay indoors, close windows and turn off air conditioners. About one hour later, they reversed the emergency order.

No one spoke definitively about the health risks to the community from the plume, although Chavez said the shelter-in-place order was lifted after "imminent danger" had passed.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency and the fire district, along with the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, Department of Fish and Game, San Mateo County Health Department, county Office of Emergency Services and East Palo Alto Police Department are all involved in the investigation of the incident.

The tanker truck was preparing to depart Romic at about 9 p.m. Monday, carrying a 4,000-gallon liquid mix of 15 solvents, Schapelhouman said. Its destination was another recycling plant. But for reasons not yet understood, a chemical reaction began in the tank, building pressure. The contents included toluene, hydroxylamine, monoethanolamine and acetonitrile.

The pressure valve then erupted, said Chavez, which she emphasized showed a safety system was working. If the valve hadn't released, the entire tank could have exploded. "It did its job," Chavez said. Schapelhouman said a large black cloud spewed from the tanker shortly after 9 p.m. The EPA stated that a mist settled over a two-acre area surrounding the plant, including a PG&E substation across the street and a nearby wetland.

Cleanup crews are power-washing contaminated areas with a system that recaptures the tainted cleanup water, Schapelhouman said. Chavez said contaminated vegetation will also be removed.

Chavez said Romic is working to reopen Bay Road by today, which was closed off at Tara Road on Tuesday.

Rubin Abrica, the mayor of East Palo Alto, said the city would "conduct a full and thorough investigation." He also expressed exasperation at the city's burden of coping with toxic releases from Romic.

"There's a history of incidents happening at that site," he said.

Schapelhouman agreed, saying, "We've had significant problems with Romic, and underline and bold that statement. That included drums blowing up."

But the deputy fire chief emphasized that was well over a decade ago, and Romic has since made significant strides in improving its operation.

"You've got to give them credit," he said, adding that the company provides a valuable service by recycling toxic substances.

From Abrica's perspective, it's time for another city to host a hazardous-materials plant.

"That's the bottom line," he said. "We've done our share all these years carrying the burden."

Homes Evacuated When People Get Sick Due To Leak

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0700

Four DeBary homes were evacuated Wednesday morning when a chlorine leak from an old water treatment plant made people sick. Two garbage men were the first ones to be overcome by the fumes early Wednesday morning.

The leaking plant is near the intersection of 17-92 and Dogwood Trail. HAZMAT teams located the source of the leak and are working to get it safely cleaned up.

A waste management crew was driving down Dogwood Terrace at about seven Wednesday morning when they said they saw a brown haze over the road. It wasn't fog and it didn't take long for both men in the garbage truck to start getting sick.

"Burning in your nose, burning in your chest, make you want to throw up," said victim Kevin Thomas.

The men called 9-1-1 and HAZMAT crews quickly secured the area the best that they could. They determined that the cloud was chlorine gas that had escaped from a container at a former water treatment facility in the area. Four homes in the immediate area were evacuated.

"One to the east, one to the west, and two across the street, create an extra safety buffer," said Volusia County spokesperson Shelly Szafraniec.

One Volusia County HAZMAT worker had to be taken to the hospital when his suit was breached. He wasn't showing any symptoms of inhalation, but the county sent him to be checked out as a precaution.

The county said there were four unused chlorine tanks in the water facility. Crews detected and plugged a pinhole leak in one chlorine container. Crews were checking out the other three tanks to make sure there were no more leaks.

The two sanitation workers who got sick from the chlorine in the first place were treated on the scene and released.

Chemical Spill Cancer Side Effect Injury Toxic Pollutant Lawyer

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0700

Chemical Spills

Each year, thousands of chemical spills occur in the United States. Many companies who feel they are above the law in the United States on a daily basis violate environmental and worker safety laws at all levels (local, state and federal) that are set-up to protect workers and the public from toxic substances. Chemical spills in the workplace occur due to negligence on the part of the employer and lack of training. Workers compensation laws provide that injured workers are entitled to medical expenses and lost wages, but you may be entitled to additional compensation in the case of negligence. Chemical spills usually result from any of the following negligent or unsafe practices:

Unsafe handling of chemicals
Improper chemical storage
Chemical storage tank ruptures
Improper containers for chemical disposal
Failure to dispose of chemical in timely manner
Failure to comply with OSHA regulations

Chemical spills affect ecological environments, resulting in the death of local fish populations, aquatic plants and microorganisms. In addition, chemical spills can travel into nearby oceans, streams, lakes, ponds, rivers and even local drinking water supplies. The dangers and side effects of chemical spills can last many years. Chemical spills send out tons of benzene and other harmful toxins into the environment.

Chemical spills can cause:

Blindness, corneal scarring
Burns, tissue necrosis
Cancer
Respiratory illnesses
Neurological disorders
Organ failure
Death

Legal Rights for Victims of Chemical Spills
If you or a loved one suffered serious health issues from an chemical spill, please fill out the form at the right for a free case evaluation by a qualified pollutants attorney