Time line of event,
A chemical fire last night in a hazardous waste plant caused the evacuation of about 100 homes in north Hamilton.
Bewildered residents opened their doors to police officers wearing respirators as they initiated a voluntary evacuation in a one-kilometre radius around Hotz Environmental at 239 Lottridge St., north of Barton Street East.
Hotz, which disposes of hazardous household waste, reported a fire around 7 p.m.
At 10 p.m., fire department spokesperson John Verbeek said that firefighters were extinguishing four smouldering barrels containing pool chlorine in the northeast of the building "with some dry chemical extinguishers."
Firefighters did not enter the building until 9:20 as they assessed what chemicals were inside.
Verbeek said preliminary information was that there was a small amount of PCBs from light ballasts in two of the 45-gallon metal drums. Others contained bleach.
General manager Don Harber said most of what the company deals with is latex paint, which it recycles. He said the property is about five acres and there were 22 employees inside at the time, all of whom left the building.
(Drums with these to different chemical are to never be near each other, why where they that night?)
Possible Causes,
No cause has been determined for the blaze, but Verbeek said a chemical reaction in one drum of pool chemicals (chlorine and bromine) is strongly suspected.
These chemicals generate heat if they have been contaminated with oil, moisture or even bits of cardboard from original packaging, which sometimes gets included with the chemicals, he said. The chemicals are normally able to dissipate heat in regular containers, but they could reach high temperatures sealed inside a drum with a contaminant.
(The place is not temperature controlled and the drums when emptied are just recycled and not always cleaned properly it's easy to see how oil became mixed with the bleach)
Eyewittness accounts,
Oliver Gasana, 25, was the employee who pulled the alarm.
"I heard a big boom, went in back and a drum was on fire," he said.
Gasana, who has worked there about a year, added that he ran to get a fire extinguisher, but "by the time I got back, which was five seconds, there were four more (drums) on fire."
After pulling the alarm, he ran from the building.
Another employee who wouldn't give his name said there are potentially thousands of drums in that area of the building.
He says he was processing paint 100 metres away when "some drums started popping."
He said he heard three to four small explosions and then the alarms started going off.
He speculated there may have been some sort of chemical reaction, possibly from chlorine pucks for pools which may have been in the drums.
Evacuees were able to return around 10 p.m., but area residents were angry the facility is even in the area.
Reactions from residences,
Nicole Gagne of Case Street said police told her to evacuate just after 9 p.m. The mother of three said having the facility down the street makes her "very concerned for (her) kids."
Ward 3 Councillor Bernie Morelli said he has tried to stop recyclers from setting up in residential areas, but noted his hands are tied by zoning laws. He said it would be tough to evict companies, even if zoning laws changed.
"Since there seems to be no way to move them out, you have to work with these people to make sure they're as good a neighbour as anyone else," Morelli said.
He called Hotz Environmental a responsible business and said the fire was not indicative of their operation.
Hotz' reaction,
In a bid to ease frustrations, Hotz Environmental offered to reimburse anyone displaced from their home by the fire.
"We're very appreciative of our neighbours and apologize for the inconvenience we caused them," said Hotz vice-president Pamela McAuley.
Ministry of the Environment actions,
Jennifer Hall of the Ministry of the Environment said officials on the scene Wednesday night took 27 samples of the air surrounding the Lottridge facility but did not register any detectable levels of chlorine "due to the nature and short duration of the fire."
Hall said the ministry's district office was at the Hotz facility in August for a site inspection and found the company to be in compliance with provincial requirements for handling and storing waste material.
The Hotz centre operated as a household hazardous waste collection site for the city until a contract expired in March. City data shows it had 6,095 visits between May and December 2007 and collected 198 tonnes of waste.
Interesting notes,
Residents were told to go inside and close their doors and windows. However CHCH News reporter Michelle Dubé observed several standing in the street, watching emergency crews.
No charges will be laid as the facility is inspected regularly and there were no violations.
Sources, Hamilton Spectator, CHML Radio, CHCH News
My reaction,
As I mentioned I used to work for Hotz and still live nearby, although I never heard the evacuation order?. The question is not how to contain this type of chemical reaction after it occurs, which can be quick and violent. One guy stated he went for the fire extinguisher but in 5 seconds the fire was out of control. I believe him, the problem I have is with people like GM Don Harber who claims he had no clue how the fire happened.
I do! the company doesn't properly train their employees in how to avoid chemical reactions. It is speculated the drum contained pool chemicals(chlorine), last week that drum could have had motor oil in it and not properly cleaned afterwords. I seen it day in day out, people who didn't give a damn or where too stupid to know the dangers of what they where handling. It's funny it is only stated that Hotz' contract for the household waste drop off centre was not renewed, thus they moved it down to Kenora Ave. Which is a more safe area where the drums are not kept exposed to the elements all day in a parking lot and while I worked there I often had to remind the completely untrained in even the basic Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) (Canada’s national hazard communication standard. The key elements of the system, which came into effect on October 31, 1988, are cautionary labelling of containers of WHMIS controlled products, the provision of material safety data sheets (MSDSs) and worker education and training programs.) kid to even cover the drums and properly seal them. This kid didn't even know that if you mix baking soda and an acid like vinegar in the same drum you get a spectacular chemical reaction. Any fifth grade science student making a volcano knows this.
Proper execution of standards has to start with management, if they shirk responsibility things happen.
Later,
Kenaz
