From: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety" <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (23 articles)
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2017 07:26:28 -0400
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: 7604F1E4-4069-49FE-9B36-B0BAFDCD08E3**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org


Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, August 7, 2017 at 7:26:10 AM

A membership benefit of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
All article summaries and tags are archived at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas

Table of Contents (23 articles)

ACETONE FUMES MAY HAVE CAUSED HOUSE FIRE NEAR CAMDENTON
Tags: us_MO, public, fire, response, acetone

FIRE AT GAR TOOTELIAN AG CHEMICAL PLANT NEAR REEDLEY CAUSES MORE THAN $2M IN DAMAGE
Tags: us_CA, industrial, fire, response, ag_chems

CHEMICAL SPILL LEADS TO HAZMAT SITUATION IN VENICE
Tags: us_FL, public, release, response, pool_chemicals

CHEMICAL LEAK AT US PORT INJURES 13
Tags: us_CA, transportation, release, injury, other_chemical

BELCONNEN AND GUNGAHLIN NAIL SALONS INVESTIGATED BY ACT HEALTH, WORKSAFE
Tags: Australia, industrial, discovery, environmental, other_chemical

2 HOSPITALIZED FOR CHLORINE INHALATION AFTER FIRE AT CONTINENTAL INN IN EAST LAMPETER TWP.
Tags: us_PA, public, fire, injury, chlorine

HOVERBOARD BATTERY OVERHEATS, CAUSES SMALL FIRE AT CAPE GIRARDEA
Tags: us_MO, public, explosion, response, batteries

HIGHLAND COMMUNITY NEWS: CRIME/FIRE
Tags: us_CA, public, explosion, response, clandestine_lab

ST. CLAIRSVILLE CHEMICAL LEAK LEADS TO EVACUATIONS
Tags: us_OH, industrial, release, injury, chlorine, water_treatment

FOREST SERVICE TO GIVE WATER SYSTEM TO SOUTH DAKOTA TOWN
Tags: us_SD, public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical, waste

POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS SUBSTANCE AT UCLA CAMPUS SAFELY DETONATED
Tags: us_CA, public, discovery, response, picric_acid, time-sensitive

FENTANYL SUSPECTED AS COPS AT OD HOSPITALIZED
Tags: us_MA, public, release, injury, clandestine_lab

CHEMICAL ODOR FORCES EVACUATION OF SALEM MARKET BASKET
Tags: us_NH, public, release, injury, cleaners

LAB MIGHT HAVE KNOWN DANGEROUS WASTE WAS UNMARKED
Tags: us_NM, laboratory, follow-up, injury, unknown_chemical, waste

POLICE ID 3 BURN SUSPECTS IN THC EXTRACTION LAB EXPLOSION
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, explosion, injury, unknown_chemical, illegal

SAN DIEGO POOLS TAKE EXTRA PRECAUTION TO PREVENT CHEMICAL SPILLS, SICKNESS
Tags: us_CA, public, follow-up, environmental

GROUPS PRAISE LAW BANNING FLAME RETARDANTS IN FURNITURE
Tags: us_ME, public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical

ALBANY COUNTY EXEC IMPLORES TRUMP TO FILL DOT VACANCIES FOR TRAIN SAFETY REASONS
Tags: us_NY, transportation, follow-up, environmental

I-25 REOPENS AT CIMARRON AFTER TRUCK FIRE
Tags: us_CO, transportation, fire, response, oxidizer

AN INDUSTRIAL SOS
Tags: Israel, industrial, discovery, environmental, ag_chems

SA STATE LIBRARY EVACUATED DUE TO PAINT FUMES, TWO TAKEN TO ROYAL ADELAIDE HOSPITAL
Tags: Australia, public, release, response, ammonia

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS OVER THIS CHEMICAL PLANT'S EMISSIONS
Tags: us_NJ, public, follow-up, environmental, radiation

'LITTLE BOOM EXPLOSIONS' HEARD AS HYDROCHLORIC ACID TANKER ERUPTS IN FLAMES ON PACIFIC MOTORWAY
Tags: Australia, transportation, explosion, response, hydrochloric_acid


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ACETONE FUMES MAY HAVE CAUSED HOUSE FIRE NEAR CAMDENTON
Tags: us_MO, public, fire, response, acetone

CAMDEN COUNTY, Mo. ‰?? Fire damaged a home on State Route V, Saturday afternoon, and authorities think the flammable chemical acetone might be to blame.

According to the Mid County Fire Protection District, firefighters were dispatched to the house fire on State Route V just before 4 p.m. on Aug. 5. Crews found the fire had begun on the home‰??s lower floor but had spread to the upper floor and attic. They were able to bring the fire under control within 30 minutes, according to the district.

The home was damaged by smoke and heat as well as fire, but no one was injured.

The Mid County Fire Marshal is investigating, but the district says the fire appears to have been accidental, caused by the unintentional ignition of acetone fumes.

---------------------------------------------

FIRE AT GAR TOOTELIAN AG CHEMICAL PLANT NEAR REEDLEY CAUSES MORE THAN $2M IN DAMAGE
Tags: us_CA, industrial, fire, response, ag_chems

The Gar Tootelian agricultural chemical plant east of Reedley caught fire Sunday, causing more than an estimated $2 million in damage and sending up a plume of smoke that was visible across a wide area.

Fire crews from an array of agencies, including from Fresno County Cal Fire, Tulare County, Reedley and Dinuba, responded to the four-alarm fire near Crawford and South avenues just before noon. More than 100 firefighters were participating in the response.


Cal Fire Capt. Jeremiah Wittwer said crews had contained the fire by early Sunday afternoon, but mop up wasn‰??t expected to be finished until Sunday evening. He said the fire burned about 25 percent of the 16,000 square-foot complex. Initial reports had put the space estimate at about 20,000 square feet.

Some workers were at the plant when the fire broke out, Wittwer said, but no one was injured. Fire officials were unsure of the cause.

---------------------------------------------

CHEMICAL SPILL LEADS TO HAZMAT SITUATION IN VENICE
Tags: us_FL, public, release, response, pool_chemicals

VENICE, FL (WWSB) - A hazmat situation forced a shopping center evacuation Sunday in Venice. The Sarasota County Fire Department responded to the Venice Pines shopping plaza in the 1200 block of Jacaranda Boulevard around 2 p.m. due to a chlorine spill at a pool supply store.

When the fire department arrived they found that a 1300 gallon chemical tank was leaking into an overflow basin.

The crews worked quickly to evacuate surrounding businesses in fear that the concentrated chemical may cause breathing problems.

Officials say they will remove the leaking tank and overflow basin.

---------------------------------------------

CHEMICAL LEAK AT US PORT INJURES 13
Tags: us_CA, transportation, release, injury, other_chemical

Twelve ship workers and one firefighter were injured Sunday after a container ship docking at a major port near Los Angeles leaked chemical substance.

The incident occurred at 9:27 a.m. local time (1627 GMT), when a 6,000-gallon container on a commercial ship docked at the Pier G in the Port of Long Beach leaked a chemical substance later identified as propyl acetate, according to the Long Beach Fire Department.

Among those injured in the incident, the 12 dockworkers were due to exposure to the leak while the firefighter had a fall at the scene, the fire department tweeted.

Local news channel KTLA 5 said 11 of the injured were treated for minor injuries at the scene and one was taken to a hospital with mild injuries.

After the incident, the container was removed from the ship, called Harbor Bridge.

The coast guard also established a safety zone 150 yards (about 138 meters) around the ship as a precautionary measure to protect environment.

---------------------------------------------

BELCONNEN AND GUNGAHLIN NAIL SALONS INVESTIGATED BY ACT HEALTH, WORKSAFE
Tags: Australia, industrial, discovery, environmental, other_chemical

At least a quarter of Canberra nail salons have been investigated in the past two years and several hit with health and safety sanctions linked to vermin infestations, unsafe chemical practices, poor infection control and cleanliness.

Advocacy groups have also questioned the working conditions of Canberra nail salon employees, with one migrant women's network describing long hours, underpayment and an expectation that employees perform household jobs for bosses such as cooking and taking children to school.

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Elleebana School of Beauty Therapy nail therapist Anna Liakos Photo: Rohan Thomson
An appetite for fast and cheap beauty treatments has seen a 13-fold increase in the number of nail salons in Canberra in almost as many years. Just three were registered with ACT Health in 2005; by last month, there were 39.

---------------------------------------------

2 HOSPITALIZED FOR CHLORINE INHALATION AFTER FIRE AT CONTINENTAL INN IN EAST LAMPETER TWP.
Tags: us_PA, public, fire, injury, chlorine

Two hotel employees were hospitalized for chlorine inhalation after an indoor pool building caught fire Saturday afternoon at Continental Inn, 2285 Lincoln Highway East in East Lampeter Township.

At least 16 emergency units from about a dozen departments were dispatched at 4:21 p.m. Crews spent over five and a half hours on scene.

The indoor pool building sat behind the main hotel, according to Lafayette Fire Co. Chief Scott Hershey

"After we got the fire knocked down, we realized the fire compromised some chlorine containers," Hershey said.

All personnel who operated inside the building reportedly underwent decontamination and medical monitoring while the hazmat team removed the chemical from the building.

No word of the hotel employees' conditions was released Saturday night.

Officials estimated about $250,000 in total fire damage, including pool equipment, pumps, heaters, chemicals and the contents of a nearby storage garage, Hershey said.

---------------------------------------------

HOVERBOARD BATTERY OVERHEATS, CAUSES SMALL FIRE AT CAPE GIRARDEA
Tags: us_MO, public, explosion, response, batteries

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KFVS) -
The West Park Mall in Cape Girardeau, Missouri was evacuated after a hoverboard exploded filling the mall with smoke.

Witnesses said it sounded like fireworks going off inside the mall.

It happened on Saturday, Aug. 5 around 5:15 p.m.

Fire Departments along with the police department were dispatched at 5:18 p.m. to the scene.

According to the Cape Girardeau Fire Department, a battery-operated hoverboard caught fire while charging in the middle of the mall in the kiosk area. They said mall employees extinguished the fire just before crews arrived.

---------------------------------------------

HIGHLAND COMMUNITY NEWS: CRIME/FIRE
Tags: us_CA, public, explosion, response, clandestine_lab

Deputies from the Victor Valley Sheriff‰??s Station and personnel from the fire department were dispatched to 13150 Riverview Drive, Spring Valley Lake for an explosion and fire at 1:35 a.m. Friday, Aig. 4. Upon their arrival, they located items that were consistent with a THC extraction lab. One room inside the residence was destroyed by the explosion and fire.
Personnel from the Sheriff‰??s Department Gangs/Narcotics Division were requested to respond to assist with the investigation. The Sheriff‰??s Marijuana Enforcement Team served a search warrant at the residence and assumed the investigation. Investigators from the Sheriff‰??s Arson/Bomb Detail also responded to the scene. Investigators found evidence of a THC extraction operation.
Three suspects were taken into custody: Steven Ray Hoover Jr., 25, of Victorville, Jesse Karl Bevins, 28, of Apple Valley, and Paige Nicole Tappe, 26, of Victorville.
All three suspects were present when the explosion and fire occurred but fled prior to emergency personnel arriving at the scene. Through investigation, the suspects were identified and located by investigators.

---------------------------------------------

ST. CLAIRSVILLE CHEMICAL LEAK LEADS TO EVACUATIONS
Tags: us_OH, industrial, release, injury, chlorine, water_treatment

ST. CLAIRSVILLE ‰?? Multiple first responders converged on Legion Road in St. Clairsville on Friday morning, as reports came in about a chemical leak at a wastewater treatment plant.

Cumberland Trail Fire Chief John Slavik said that at about 9:30 a.m., his department received a call regarding an incident at the wastewater treatment plant in the vicinity of Legion Road.

Slavik said upon arrival, responding firefighters noticed a slight irritating and burning sensation on exposed skin, as well as a chemical smell in the air, causing them to radio from additional assistance from several different departments for a possible chlorine leak. Multiple units were soon on the scene to deal with the situation, including Cumberland Trail, the St. Clairsville Police Department, Belmont County Sheriff‰??s Office, and the Bethesda, Sunset Heights, Wolfhurst, and Colerain Volunteer Fire Departments, as Well as the Belmont County emergency Management Agency.

Mayor Terry Pugh and St. Clairsville City Wastewater Superintendent Scott Brown were also on scene to assess the situation; Brown said that two employees who were in the building were checked out by EMS personnel and were cleared medically, but were transported to area hospitals just to be safe

---------------------------------------------

FOREST SERVICE TO GIVE WATER SYSTEM TO SOUTH DAKOTA TOWN
Tags: us_SD, public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical, waste

NEMO, S.D. (AP) ‰?? After proposing to give a small South Dakota town filters for well water contamination potentially caused the U.S. Forest Service, the agency has shifted to implementing a $1.9 million permanent water supply system.

The agency released a plan this month to upgrade the temporary water system that installed 20 years ago in Nemo and make it a permanent system to serve about a dozen affected locations for free. The system will be operated by and at the expense of the Forest Service, the Rapid City Journal reported.

The contamination may date back to the 1960s, when the agency began spraying ethylene dibromide on trees to kill pine beetles. Researchers eventually discovered that the chemical can infiltrate groundwater and cause cancer in people who consume.

It was only in 1994 that some former Black Hills National Forest employees confessed that during the 1970s they buried corroded 5-gallon cans of the chemical with other waste in a pit at the Forest Service's Nemo Work Center. The agency only decided to begin testing well water two years later, eventually finding that 12 wells contained concentrations of the chemical that ranged from 70 to 260 times the Environmental Protection Agency's maximum standard.

---------------------------------------------

POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS SUBSTANCE AT UCLA CAMPUS SAFELY DETONATED
Tags: us_CA, public, discovery, response, picric_acid, time-sensitive

WESTWOOD, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Los Angeles police and bomb squad officials detonated a jar containing a potentially dangerous chemical at UCLA in Westwood on Saturday.

Acting out of an abundance of caution, the LAPD Bomb Squad detonated the 6-ounce jar of what officials determined was picric acid.

Someone took the substance to a household hazardous waste drop-off in the 600 block of S. Gayley Avenue, where LAFD officials responded at about 10:30 a.m.

Investigators said picric acid can be explosive, especially when it crystalizes. It has industrial and medical uses, and it was once used for manufacturing explosives, officials said.

After realizing what they were dealing with, UCLA police stopped traffic and cleared the area until the bomb squad, LAPD and LAFD disposed of the acid.

"Picric acid, when it's dry, it has the potential to explode, and it'll cause a pretty fair explosion and flying glass and it could hurt somebody pretty bad," said Sgt. Brian Washburn of UCLA police.

Officials said they cleared the situation without injuries, but added that the substance is not something that should be taken to a household hazardous waste drop.

---------------------------------------------

FENTANYL SUSPECTED AS COPS AT OD HOSPITALIZED
Tags: us_MA, public, release, injury, clandestine_lab

Three Chelsea police officers, responding to a simple minivan accident, were hospitalized yesterday after they were exposed to a cigarette box allegedly containing the deadly synthetic opiate fentanyl, in a late afternoon scene that quickly escalated into a hazmat alert.

The overdose-reversing drug Narcan had to be used on the occupants of the vehicle, officials said, after the minivan hit a parked car at 3:25 p.m. on Williams Street. But the feared fentanyl was still out in the open.

---------------------------------------------

CHEMICAL ODOR FORCES EVACUATION OF SALEM MARKET BASKET
Tags: us_NH, public, release, injury, cleaners

SALEM, N.H. ‰?? Shoppers were evacuated from a Market Basket Friday afternoon after a chemical odor caused two employees to become ill.

Salem Fire Department crews responded to the scene around noon after receiving a call that an employee was feeling ill. As crews were assessing him, a second employee exited the store with similar symptoms. Firefighters also began smelling a chemical odor, according to Battalion Chief Fran Enos.

As a precaution, the 265 S. Broadway store was emptied of customers and additional crews and a Hazmat team was called from Windham to investigate the scene. The investigators found that the odor was likely caused why two household chemical cleaners that had accidentally been mixed in a cleaning bucket.

No shoppers became ill due to the odors, which were far from life-threatening, Enos said.

"It was really very minor," he said. "Everyone worked with the utmost care to make sure it wasn't more serious."

---------------------------------------------

LAB MIGHT HAVE KNOWN DANGEROUS WASTE WAS UNMARKED
Tags: us_NM, laboratory, follow-up, injury, unknown_chemical, waste

State inspectors and Los Alamos National Laboratory officials may have known about an unlabeled hazardous waste container two days before the material ignited at the lab‰??s plutonium facility during a cleanup operation, causing a worker to suffer second-degree burns.

The small but dangerous container was among a number of serious violations of the lab‰??s hazardous waste permit that state workers discovered during an April 17 inspection ‰?? problems that could cost the lab thousands of dollars in fines.

The lab failed to label the contents of various containers of potentially deadly waste, improperly left a waste container unsealed, failed to train a number of workers how to handle waste and did not maintain employee training records, according to a July 20 notice from the New Mexico Environment Department that was made public Friday.

The timing of the inspection also raises questions about whether the lab or the state department could have prevented the small fire that injured a worker.

---------------------------------------------

POLICE ID 3 BURN SUSPECTS IN THC EXTRACTION LAB EXPLOSION
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, explosion, injury, unknown_chemical, illegal

VICTORVILLE, Calif. (VVNG.com) Three people operating an illegal THC extraction inside their home, were badly injured after the lab exploded.

At 1:35 am, on Friday, August 4th, officials responded to 13150 Riverview Drive in Spring Valley Lake reference a fire and explosion.

Upon their arrival, they located items that were consistent with a THC extraction lab. One room inside the residence was destroyed by the explosion and fire.

According to authorities, Steven Ray Hoover Jr., 25, Paige Nicole Tappe, 26, both residents of Victorville, and Jesse Karl Bevins, 28, of Apple Valley were all present when the explosion and fire occurred but later fled.

Hoover was taken to a local hospital with 2nd and 3rd-degree burns and later airlifted to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center. He sustained 2nd and 3rd degree burns to his face, head, and body stated a sheriff‰??s news release.

---------------------------------------------

SAN DIEGO POOLS TAKE EXTRA PRECAUTION TO PREVENT CHEMICAL SPILLS, SICKNESS
Tags: us_CA, public, follow-up, environmental

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - In the wake of a chemical spill at a North Carolina YMCA swimming pool, public pools around San Diego are double-checking their safety measures to prevent similar incidents here.

Forty children were sent to the hospital this week when chemicals spilled at a YMCA in North Carolina. All of the kids are expected to be OK.

The city of San Diego runs 13 public pools, and officials say all pools have multiple ways to keep chemicals from spilling and keep swimmers safe.

The city does random safety inspections at all pools at least twice a year. The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department also inspects the pools to make sure chemicals are stored safely. The chemicals are also kept in separate rooms with primary and secondary containment structures to ensure they don't mix if there is a spill.

---------------------------------------------

GROUPS PRAISE LAW BANNING FLAME RETARDANTS IN FURNITURE
Tags: us_ME, public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) ‰?? Firefighters and national chemical safety groups said they hope the nation follows Maine's lead in passing a tough flame retardants law that the chemical industry lobbied against.

Lawmakers on Wednesday overrode Republican Gov. Paul LePage's veto of a law supporters say will reduce firefighters' exposure to carcinogens. Starting in 2019, Maine will prohibit the sale of new upholstered furniture made with materials that contain more than 1 percent of a flame-retardant chemical.

The restrictions don't apply to furniture used in schools, jails and hospitals; it instead goes through safety tests. The law uses about $165,000 from the state's medical marijuana fund to hire an environmental specialist for two years to monitor furniture sales.

A decade ago, Maine banned some flame retardants, but some firefighters say that law was insufficient to protect them from newer substitutes. Household furniture can meet safety standards without such chemicals, and smoke detectors and sprinklers ‰?? not fire retardants ‰?? save lives, said Portland Fire Capt. Mike Nixon.

He said fire gear companies are beginning to roll out suits that keep retardants from coming into contact with skin, but added, "there's still nothing perfect out there."

Nixon said he was diagnosed with late stage melanoma in 2012 when he was 41 and later received two surgeries and 11 months of chemotherapy. He can't say exactly what led to his diagnosis, though a 2006 Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine review of 32 studies suggested a possible increased likelihood of skin cancer for firefighters.

---------------------------------------------

ALBANY COUNTY EXEC IMPLORES TRUMP TO FILL DOT VACANCIES FOR TRAIN SAFETY REASONS
Tags: us_NY, transportation, follow-up, environmental

ALBANY ‰?? Albany County executive Daniel McCoy implored President Donald Trump to fill Department of Transportation vacancies for safety's sake a day after an Albany-bound train carrying hazardous cargo derailed, starting a fire and triggering the evacuation of a small town. He noted that "the top job, for Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, has been vacant since January."
"There are so many jobs unfilled...we're dancing with the devil," McCoy said at a news conference. "I don't want to wait until people die...I don't want to be saying I told you so."
When asked if he would blame Trump if lives were lost due to a train loaded with hazardous materials derailing McCoy, a Democrat, said "yes."
At least 32 cars of a CSX train derailed about 5 a.m. near tiny Hyndman, Pa., 100 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. One car was carrying molten sulphur and another was full of liquid petroleum gas. Both cars caught fire, according to National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Terry Williams. Hyndman's approximately 875 residents were evacuated. A car that struck a residential garage ignited a fire which was still burning Thursday.

---------------------------------------------

I-25 REOPENS AT CIMARRON AFTER TRUCK FIRE
Tags: us_CO, transportation, fire, response, oxidizer

A semi-truck caught fire on Interstate 25 Thursday evening, forcing the interstate to shut down at Cimarron Street in south Colorado Springs, officials said.

The fire was reported just after 5:30 p.m., said Capt. Steve Wilch, spokesman for the Colorado Springs Fire Department.

The driver pulled the tractor away from the trailer, where a 55-gallon drum filled with an oxidizer had caught fire. The trailer was carrying a mixed load - "a variety of hazardous materials" - and a 35-gallon drum of another oxidizer was also exposed, Wilch said.

The interstate will be closed for several more hours, Wilch said shortly before 8 p.m. Southbound traffic is being diverted at Bijou Street, and northbound is being diverted at Tejon Street.

Clean-up crews contracted by the trucking company are on their way from Denver and New Mexico. A hazmat crew on scene will "manage the initial containment of the hazard," Wilch said.

---------------------------------------------

AN INDUSTRIAL SOS
Tags: Israel, industrial, discovery, environmental, ag_chems

Haifa Chemicals, a signature Israeli agro-tech industry and long one of the nation‰??s most lucrative businesses, has announced plans to shut its fertilizer plants, which would send some 800 employees packing ‰?? and by some media accounts, hundreds more.

The decision made by The Trump Group ‰?? no relation to the US president ‰?? follows a four-year battle to come up with a safe method of storage for the toxic ammonia it requires for production. A huge 10,000 liter tank of the chemical, located at the edge of Haifa, has been justifiably ruled as too hazardous. This is because it puts the lives of hundreds of thousands of citizens at risk in the event of war, natural disaster, or fire.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah drove home the plant‰??s vulnerability with a February 2016 threat to target it with missile fire, ‰??the result of which would be like a nuclear bomb.‰?? Hezbollah rockets had already struck as far as Haifa in the Second Lebanon War of 2006, with deadly results.

---------------------------------------------

SA STATE LIBRARY EVACUATED DUE TO PAINT FUMES, TWO TAKEN TO ROYAL ADELAIDE HOSPITAL
Tags: Australia, public, release, response, ammonia

South Australia's State Library, located in the Adelaide CBD, was evacuated and two people taken to hospital after paint fumes drifted into the building during renovations.

Dozens of people were evacuated from the library building in North Terrace about 12:30pm.

Metropolitan Fire Service (MFS) and SA Ambulance crews attended the scene, and the main part of the library was later reopened.

"Apparently there was some sort of chemical scare," ABC Radio Adelaide presenter Peter Goers, who was heading to a football exhibition at the library, said.

"There's a smell of ammonia in the building, apparently, I'm told by people leaving."

SA Ambulance confirmed two people were taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital in a stable condition.

---------------------------------------------

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS OVER THIS CHEMICAL PLANT'S EMISSIONS
Tags: us_NJ, public, follow-up, environmental, radiation

KINGWOOD TWP. -- Some residents and members of the township's Environmental Commission are demanding updated information from MEL Chemicals about groundwater and soil contamination from its local plant that may be affecting the wells of nearby homeowners.

MEL, based in Manchester, United Kingdom, describes itself as a "global producer and supplier of inorganic materials specializing in zirconium-based chemicals."

The company, formerly known as MEI, was responsible for six chemical spills in Kingwood, Hunterdon County since July 1994, as reported by the state Department of Environmental Protection, according to minutes of the April 25 environmental commission meeting. The most recent one, involving five gallons of radioactive radium, occurred in February.

The 1994 spill, along with three spills in 2004 and 2011, also involved a radioactive liquid and solids. A 6,000-gallon spill in 2014 involved zirconium oxychloride.

In May, the DEP reported it received a petition signed by 35 individuals who live or work near the MEL site in Kingwood, requesting a meeting with Ramboll Environ, a health consulting firm working for MEL to investigate and remediate any pollution at the site.

---------------------------------------------

'LITTLE BOOM EXPLOSIONS' HEARD AS HYDROCHLORIC ACID TANKER ERUPTS IN FLAMES ON PACIFIC MOTORWAY
Tags: Australia, transportation, explosion, response, hydrochloric_acid

Tolls along the Logan Motorway have been waived after a chemical tanker erupted in flames on the M1 at Loganholme, an incident that left no-one injured thanks to the quick-thinking truck driver who pulled over and stopped traffic when he noticed a fire underneath his cab.

"Several explosions" were heard from hundreds of metres away and an emergency situation declared after a gas tanker carrying hydrochloric acid burst into flames on the Pacific Motorway.

The motorway was closed near the Logan Hyperdome after a southbound Coogee Chemicals truck carrying 15,000 litres of hydrochloric acid burst into flames and billowed "large volumes of black smoke" about 8.40am on Friday.

Police revoked the emergency situation at 4.50pm, with northbound lanes and two southbound lanes of the Pacific Motorway reopened.

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