Emergency responders from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, California Department of Fish and Game, Monterey County, and the Salinas Fire Department are working together to cleanup, investigate and assess environmental hazards that resulted from a May 29th explosion at a large warehouse in a Salinas, California industrial park.
Emergency responders from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, California Department of Fish and Game, Monterey County, and the Salinas Fire Department are working together to cleanup, investigate and assess environmental hazards that resulted from a May 29th explosion at a large warehouse in a Salinas, California industrial park.
Approximately 500 thousand gallons of liquids were discharged into a nearby storm drain, which leads to a reclamation ditch and eventually to Elkhorn Slough in Moss Landing. The affected section of the ditch extends from Dayton Road to near Work Street.
Emergency responders have contained the contaminated water and are evaluating how to quickly cleanup the affected area in advance of predicted rain. Officials are taking water samples to monitor the green liquid in the ditch that runs for nearly 4 miles through Salinas.
Federal, state and local experts from multiple agencies are working together to quickly asses and complete clean up efforts. The EPA is providing technical assistance on issues including sample collection and analysis, assessment activities and water treatment system design.
According to reports published in the Californian.com, The explosion caused a fire that required about 500,000 gallons of fire-extinguishing liquids, officials said.
The liquids went through the warehouse before discharging into a nearby storm drain where they then flowed into a 4-mile-long reclamation ditch, which was later dammed up Saturday morning.
As
of Wednesday afternoon, officials were still testing to determine what
chemicals are in the ditch, which extends from Dayton Street to near
Work Street. It's unclear what Delmar was making, but Latham said he
was mixing hexamine, methanol and iron powder in a polymer reactor when
the machine began to make "hissing sounds" as it built pressure.
The exact cause of the chemical explosion is currently under investigation. (Photo from KSBW)
For more information: http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/E5698BDFF4DA385C852575CA0075ED20 and http://thecalifornian.com/article/20090604/NEWS01/906040310/1002
