No Injuries Reported in Whitman Chemical Explosion
Officials say mixing pool chemical caused the explosion
By Sophie Reardon and Michael Rosenfield
August 19, 2018
WHITMAN, Mass. —
Officials say the explosion occurred as someone in the home was mixing pool chemicals. Fortunately, no one was hurt and residents returned a short time later after firefighters ventilated the structure. (Published Sunday, Aug. 19, 2018)
No one was injured Saturday night when mixed pool chemicals exploded at a home on Glen Street in Whitman, Massachusetts.
the incident occurred at the home just off of Route 18.
The people inside of the home had been mixing pool chemicals, and that led to a small explosion, officials said. It isn't clear what kind of chemicals they were exactly. Most likely he added more chlorine to the pool chemicals to shock the pool. If he used too much of dosage, then this created a violent reaction.
Hazmat teams were called to the scene and were there for several hours.
There were no injuries and there have been no evacuations in the neighborhood, officials said.
Officials said Sunday morning that no one was injured and residents returned once the area was ventilated.
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By Joe Pelletier
The Enterprise
Posted Aug 19, 2018 at 11:54 A
“Thank God he didn’t get hurt,” Whitman fire Lt. Robert Hover said. “It’s amazing he wasn’t injured.”
WHITMAN, Mass. —
A man set off a chemical explosion in his kitchen Saturday night while mixing pool chemicals, fire officials said.
The man was uninjured after the chemical reaction at his Glen Street home.
“Thank God he didn’t get hurt,” Whitman fire Lt. Robert Hover said. “It’s amazing he wasn’t injured.”
Whitman firefighters and a state hazardous materials team responded to the home near the center of town around 9 p.m.
Hover said it appeared the man was attempting to mix chemicals in his kitchen to clean (or “shock”) his pool when it reacted with water.
“It was a quantity he shouldn’t have been mixing,” Hover said.
The chemicals had a “violent reaction,” Hover said, and exploded.
There was minimal damage to the kitchen, but the state’s District 1 Hazardous Materials Emergency Response team did have to go in and and clean up the space.
“He knew he made a mistake,” Hover said of the man. “And mistakes happen.”
Hover said, in speaking with hazmat workers, pool-chemical explosions happen regularly.
“They had the same thing in Marshfield not long ago,” he said. “It blew off the kitchen cabinets. That chlorine and those pool chemicals — they’re nasty stuff.”
His advice for how to advice unwanted explosions?
“Just follow the directions on the container,” he said. “And stick to it.”