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Fumes sicken driver in South Park; hazmat team responds
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Acid fumes sickened the driver of a tractor-trailer making a delivery Monday to a federal facility in South Park, prompting Allegheny County's hazardous materials team to respond.
The driver was not seriously injured, and the damage caused by the spill of acrylic acid was limited because it did not escape the truck.
Between 3 and 5 gallons of the combustible substance leaked from two 55-gallon drums inside the tractor-trailer around 1:40 p.m. after the truck's load shifted, breaking the barrels' seals, South Park police Deputy Chief Dennis McDonough said.
The incident occurred at a warehouse parking lot of the National Energy Technology Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy research facility at 626 Cochran Mill Road.
No roads were closed and no buildings were evacuated, but roads leading to the warehouse where the delivery was taking place were closed until around 3:10 p.m.
Katy Gresh, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said the agency would monitor the cleanup.
First Published August 3, 2010 12:00 am
