Saturday, August 29, 2015

Nitrous oxide gas plume prompts evacuation at Imagineering Finishing Technologies, a South Bend, Indiana company




Posted: Saturday, August 29, 2015

South Bend Tribune Report


SOUTH BEND, INDIANA


Employees of a South Bend metal finishing company were evacuated for a period just before noon after a chemical reaction produced a gas cloud inside the building.

South Bend fire Capt. Gerard Ellis said crews were called to Imagineering Finishing Technologies, 1302 W. Sample St., after nitric acid came in contact with a "non-conforming" steel alloy.  A chemical reaction resulted in a plume of yellow nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, inside the building.

Ellis and a company official said the company uses the chemicals to finish metal products.

No one was injured as a result of the incident, Ellis said. Employees were evacuated as a precautionary measure, however, the building's ventilation system properly cleared the gas from the building.