Thursday, January 29, 2015

HYDROGEN PEROXIDE CHEMICAL LEAK CAUSES HAZMAT RESPONSE, EVACUATIONS AT PORT OF OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON

HYDROGEN PEROXIDE CHEMICAL LEAK CAUSES HAZMAT RESPONSE, EVACUATIONS AT PORT OF OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON











January 28, 2015




OLYMPIA, Wash. — 




A cloud of potentially toxic hydrogen peroxide spread near downtown Olympia after the chemical began pouring from a stormwater treatment facility in the Port of Olympia.  People working at businesses nearby were told to get out of the area.




  “They just said that there was gas coming from the manhole covers and we needed to evacuate the buildings,” said Loren Burk. “So we just grabbed our stuff and took off.”



The leak started just before noon Wednesday.




“That leak is going into a storm sewer system,” said Olympia Fire Department spokesman Greg Wright. “We’ve set up a quarter-mile evacuation.”




About 3,000 gallons of hydrogen peroxide was spilled. The chemical is used to treat rainwater runoff from the port to correct the pH before the water is released into Puget Sound. Some people nearby say they could smell a chemical odor in the air.




Crews had the spill under control by about 3 p.m. A recovery team was sent in to clean up the remaining hydrogen peroxide. No one was injured.

TRUCK CRASHES INTO PROPANE TANK IN JARRETTSVILLE, MD MONDAY NIGHT, PROPANE GAS LEAKED BUT NO INJURIES




TRUCK CRASHES INTO PROPANE TANK IN JARRETTSVILLE, MD MONDAY NIGHT, PROPANE GAS LEAKED BUT NO INJURIES

 January 27, 2015

Jarrettsville, MD

A truck slid and crashed into a propane tank on a residential property in the 4200 block of Federal Hill Road in Jarrettsville Monday evening, sending the tank rolling into the nearby woods and causing a gas leak, according to Harford County fire officials.

No one was injured in the accident, and members of the Jarrettsville Volunteer Fire Company and the Harford County HAZMAT Response Team got the leak under control, Jennifer Chenworth-Price, a spokeswoman for the Harford County Volunteer Fire & EMS Association, said.

The fire company and HAZMAT team were alerted at 6:04 p.m., and they left the scene at 7:31 p.m., Chenworth-Price said.

She said the propane was released in a gas form after the homeowner, driving a truck on the property, slid into the 500-gallon tank and "sheared it off at the valve."

"It was an active propane leak," she said via text message.

Chenworth-Price said emergency workers controlled the leak by plugging the valve.

LARGE OIL SPILL DURING A MAJOR ACCIDENT CLOSES SH 34. AN 18-WHEELER HAULING GRAVEL REAR-ENDED A MAZDA MIATA, CAUSING IT TO STRIKE ANOTHER VEHICLE.



 

LARGE OIL SPILL DURING A MAJOR ACCIDENT CLOSES SH 34.  AN 18-WHEELER HAULING GRAVEL REAR-ENDED A MAZDA MIATA, CAUSING IT TO STRIKE ANOTHER VEHICLE.


January 29, 2015

KAUFMAN, Texas — State Highway 34 near the Kings Creek bridge, south of Kaufman, Texas, was closed just before 10 a.m. in both directions due to a three-vehicle accident involving an 18-wheeler and two vehicles.

An 18-wheeler hauling gravel rear-ended a Mazda Miata, causing it to strike another vehicle, according to Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Kyle Bradford. The female driver of the Mazda was taken by CareFlite helicopter to Baylor Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, with non-life threatening injuries. The driver of the truck was transported by an East Texas Medical Center ambulance to Baylor.
The Texas Department of Transportation was dispatched to clean a large oil spill on the road. The road was reopened after 11 a.m.

The Kaufman Fire Department, Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office, and the Texas Department of Public Safety also responded.

NORTH CAROLINA DOT WORKER HIT BY CAR IN HUNTERSVILLE

NORTH CAROLINA DOT WORKER HIT BY CAR IN HUNTERSVILLE

 


January 29, 2015
 
HUNTERSVILLE, NC (WBTV) - 
 A worker for the North Carolina Department of Transportation was hit by a car in a construction zone in Huntersville on Wednesday night, officials say.

The accident happened on Interstate 77 at Sam Furr Road around 11:30 p.m.

Officials say the worker is in serious condition but is expected to be OK.

Police have not said if anyone will be charged in the accident.

NANTUCKET WAS SPARED THE HEAVY SNOW, BUT IT SAW HURRICANE-FORCE WINDS THAT GUSTED TO 78 MPH, PARTS OF THE ISLAND FLOODED, AND AN ICE STORM BLACKED OUT THE ENTIRE ISLAND AFTER ICE COATED BOTH TRANSFORMERS IN A SUBSTATION



 NANTUCKET WAS SPARED THE HEAVY SNOW, BUT IT SAW HURRICANE-FORCE WINDS THAT GUSTED TO 78 MPH, PARTS OF THE ISLAND FLOODED, AND AN ICE STORM BLACKED OUT THE ENTIRE ISLAND AFTER ICE COATED BOTH TRANSFORMERS IN A SUBSTATION





January 29, 2015

NANTUCKET , MASS.

Massachusetts' governor visited members of the National Guard and other first responders on Nantucket Wednesday, as the electricity provider vowed its crews "will not rest" until power is restored to everyone on the scenic island a day after a massive snow and ice storm left the community of more than 10,000 people in the dark. 

Nearly 600 customers remained without power as Wednesday night turned to Thursday morning, down from the 12,800 that lost power when the island went dark Tuesday morning, utility company National Grid said. About eighty additional workers and extra line trucks were sent on the first ferries to Nantucket Wednesday morning to help with repairs, National Grid spokesman Jake Navarro said. 


Nantucket was spared some of the worst snowfalls in New England, receiving a foot of snow as the nor'easter rolled through — other parts of Massachusetts got three feet of snow. But it saw hurricane-force winds that gusted to 78 mph, parts of the island flooded, and an ice storm blacked out the entire island after ice coated both transformers in a substation, officials said. 

A baby was delivered in a hospital that had to rely on a backup generator, and Nantucket's 911 line went down for a time, Nantucket Police Chief William Pittman said. 


By Wednesday, however, things had improved. 

"We're back on line," Pittman told NBC's TODAY. "We're back in the 21st century, I guess."
While Nantucket, located about 20 miles south of Cape Cod, is known for extreme weather Navarro couldn't recall another time that the entire island lost power. "Nantucket had that triple whammy of hurricane force winds, and a blizzard, and an ice storm," Navarro said.
Officials were assessing the damage Wednesday. Some buildings downtown had water up to their foundations, and grocery stores were left without power for an extended amount of time. In a sign that things were getting back to normal — although one school kids might not appreciate — the town announced schools would be back open Thursday. 


"Everybody pitches in, everybody does something. If they've got a plow on their truck, they use it, if they've got a house that's warm, they let their neighbors come in and join them. It does very well in a storm like this," Pittman said. "This was a tough one."