9 responses to “Chemical Spill”

1. Fiona

   January 11, 2005

   Thank you to Shar for calling me at the Archives today and letting me know that we should probably evacuate the Carriage House.

2. Jenn

   January 11, 2005

   Actually, my son now says that chlorine was a guess, so that is all speculation. I hope someone clues us in!

3. Jenn

   January 12, 2005

   A note from Mr. Biggar today via e-mail notifies parents that a spill near the corp. yard and baseball field. It was muriatic acid. No negative affects reported and our kids are safe.

4. Editor

   January 12, 2005

   For us old guys, muriatic acid is hydrochloric acid. http://www.mass.gov/dep/recycle/hazards/muriatic.htm

5. joe baylock

   January 12, 2005

   I look forward to hearing what hydrochloric acid is used for these days.

6. Anne

   January 12, 2005

   Muriatic acid is a diluted form of hydrochloric acid. I believe the concentration is 10%. It’s used in many different industries such as managing the Ph level of pool water.

   When I was a kid I had a summer job and we used to use it to take off a surface layer of mortar from used bricks.

   My point being is that it is not the same strength as hydrochloric acid. All the same, it can be a hazard if misused or mishandled.

7. joe baylock

   January 12, 2005

   Ah, thanks. There are plenty of bricks in B’game that need some mortar removed.

8. Rosaline

   January 12, 2005

   http://www.smdailyjournal.org/article.cfm?issue=01-12-05&storyID=38625

   Daily Journal article today. As one high school student told me, I thought we would have to stay at school all day instead of just one extra hour so everything turned out cool!

9. Editor

   January 13, 2005

   The Parks & Rec and the City Fire Chief responded separatly to the Burlingame Voice enquiries:

   According to Randy Schwartz, Parks & Rec director:

   The Parks Maintenance crew was razing the trees at the City Hall parking lot and clearing out some debris. Along with the assorted garbage (litter, cans, etc) was an old, partly filled plastic bottle (similar to the gallon containers of milk or water). The crew assumed the liquid was water and placed the bottle in the City truck, along with the other debris, where it was taken to the Parks Yard and placed in a dumpster for disposal. When the bottle went in the dumpster, the liquid leaked out and came in contact with other items in the dumpster (probably asphalt). This caused a chemical reaction and the maintenance workers contacted Fire Dept. staff.
   However,… the response efforts were handled per the text books and training sessions. For example: Staff correctly placed the call to Fire, who responded quickly and acted appropriately. Within a very brief period, the hazmat team was on the scene, the Parks & Recreation Department and Burlingame High School administrations were noticed, the area was secured, etc.

   According to Bill Reilly, Fire Department Chief:

   As it turned out the bottle contained Muriatic Acid (not a very strong acid) but it does burn and give off strong vapors. The appropriate response did take place. Park employees notified fire and we (fire department) initiated a hazardous materials response. This included fire units, the San Mateo County Hazardous Materials Response Team (HazMat), and San Mateo County Environmental Health. The fire units cordoned off the area and notified the High School to shelter in place as a precautionary measure. The HazMat team took a sample of the liquid and identified it as Muriatic Acid that is sometimes used to clean masonry surfaces among other things. The response team was able to neutralize the liquid and clean it up without incident