Diving Wet Suits Used in Acid Spill
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Scuba-diving wet suits were successfully used in handling a sulfuric acid spill when the Chillicothe, Ill., Community Fire Department proved the value of its hazardous materials training.
The efforts of the 60-man volunteer fire department to be prepared for any type of incident also include a formal mutual aid plan with surrounding fire protection and other emergency agencies and plans for attacking various types of emergencies. The volunteers realized the value of their preparedness efforts when a small but potentially tragic sulfuric acid spill occurred inside a truck.
Acid spill occurs
About 6:30 p.m. Monday, September 18, a city delivery-type truck belonging to the Industrial Chemical Supply Company of Springfield, Ill., was going south on Illinois 29, main north-south artery through Chillicothe. The truck, which did not display any hazardous material placards, was carrying four plastic barrels of sulfuric acid, which were not secured in any fashion.
When the truck made an abrupt stop for a traffic light, one of the barrels-fell over. The fall distorted the barrel shape enough to force the side bung out and spill approximately half of the contents on the truck bed. As the truck started forward, the movement caused sulfuric acid to flow to the pavement. The truck spilled the acid for two blocks before the driver noticed the spill and pulled off the highway into a service station parking lot. The riders of two motorcycles behind the truck were heavily sprayed with the acid, and their faces, eyes and hands were burned. In addition, many vehicles were sprayed with the spilled acid as traffic was not stopped until the fire companies arrived some five minutes after the spill.
Acid victims treated
The first units on the scene immediately set up roadblocks and rerouted traffic a safe distance from the spill. The first-in assistant chief and the rescue squad began administering first aid to the injured cyclists, flushing them with water and bicarbonate of soda to dilute and neutralize the acid. This action was continued until the arrival of an ambulance with EMT personnel. Prepared eyewash was used freely on one of the victims.
Later arriving units maintained traffic control, discharged two bicarbonate of soda portable extinguishers into the truck containing the spill, and prepared to wash down the highway and any vehicles that had driven through the spill. Lacking acid suits, personnel donned wet suits and self-contained breathing apparatus. They then entered the truck, replaced the bung and righted the overturned barrel. Evacuation of the area was not necessary because of the rapid evaporation of the limited acid spilled and the prompt washdown.
We used nine pieces of equipment and all available personnel. Six pieces of equipment and their personnel assisted city, county and state police with traffic control. Two pumpers flushed the area with an estimated 29,500 gallons of water. The generator light plant was used to light the scene and one pumper remained at Station 1 on standby.
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