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Daily Record
2 days ago
- Health
- Daily Record
Ohio chemical spill sparks mass evacuations and flight groundings
Authorities confirmed that a 5,000-gallon tank containing nitric acid leaked at the Austin Powder Red Diamond plant in McArthur, Vinton County. Flights have been grounded and residents evacuated as a huge chemical spill at a plant in Ohio led to the release of hazardous plume into the air. Authorities confirmed the incident that occurred on Wednesday, June 11, confirmed that a 5,000-gallon tank containing nitric acid leaked at Austin Powder Red Diamond plant in McArthur, Vinton County, a plant known for making explosives, reports the Mirror. Due to the leak, Vinton County Sheriff's Office issued an "immediate evacuation order" for the surrounding Zaleski area. Flights within 3,700 square miles of airspace have been banned by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. Images from the scene showed a yellow-brown cloud rising above the plant, later confirmed as nitric oxide. Officials at the National Weather Service in Charleston, West Virginia are monitoring the movement of the plume. The extent to which it spreads will dpeend on the wind conditions and how much was released, according to Jackson County Emergency Management Director Robert Czechlewski. "Normally an incident like this will probably last a few hours" he said. Brad Price, an official with the Vinton County Health Department, warned that high exposure to nitric oxide can cause ""symptoms that range from irritation of eyes, skin, nose and throat, to drowsiness and maybe some unconsciousness". A statement from the Austin Powder plant in McArthur said there had been an unexpected release of nitric acid.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Evacuation ordered after leak at Ohio explosives maker Austin Powder
An area in Vinton County was evacuated after a leak at a manufacturing plant, the sheriff's office said. The leak happened at about 8:30 a.m. June 11 at the Austin Powder Red Diamond plant at 32000 Powder Plant Road near McArthur, Jackson County Emergency Management director Robert Czechlewski said. The leak released 3,000 gallons of anhydrous nitric acid, which became a plume of nitric oxide gas and prompted an evacuation near the leak. The Vinton County Sheriff's Office said it was evacuating the Village of Zaleski, State Route 677 and Creek, Morgan and Infirmary roads near the leak. Czechlewski said initially a 3-mile radius around the plant was evacuated and Zaleski, a small village with 750 residents, was evacuated later. People in the village should evacuate to State Route 278 east of Zaleski and then to U.S. 50 to avoid roadblocks, the sheriff's office said. A shelter was set up at Vinton County High School for people displaced by the evacuation order. Brad Price, director of the Vinton County Health Department, said the gas could irritate eyes and cause drowsiness. People exposed to the substance should flush their eyes with water. If symptoms persist, they should contact their primary healthcare physician or visit an urgent care facility. Czechlewski said the National Weather Service is monitoring the nitric oxide plume. Czechlewski and Price said their agencies have not had any reports of hospitalizations. The evacuations will be lifted when air quality monitoring indicates it is safe, Czechlewski said. He added that similar evacuations have lasted 'a few hours,' but the timeline will depend on the concentration of gases. Czechlewski said no explosion was reported, and it wasn't clear how employees discovered the leak. It came from a 5,000-gallon tank, he said. Only relief flights will be allowed to fly through a 30 nautical mile radius surrounding the explosion until June 12, the FAA ordered on June 11. The flight restriction did not impact John Glenn Columbus International Airport, but it did impact flights out of Rickenbacker International Airport, according to a Columbus Regional Airport Authority spokesperson. Flight disruptions caused by the plume were resolved by 11 a.m. on June 11, they said. Austin Powder is "the oldest manufacturing enterprise in Cleveland," according to Case Western Reserve University's Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. The company was founded in 1833 to produce explosives for blasting rock and building canals. The company's LinkedIn profile says it continues to manufacture industrial explosives and provides technical and blasting services around the world. The company moved its manufacturing to McArthur in 1972. 'Though the company was safety-conscious, its history was marked by many explosions,' according to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. In 2009, at least 10 employees suffered injuries in a blast at the McArthur plant in a building where workers assemble cord fuses, authorities said, The Dispatch previously reported. One woman died from her injuries months after the blast. The state fire marshal's office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives later determined that a line of detonating cord that broke during manufacturing caused the blast that injured 10 employees at a Vinton County explosives plant Tuesday. This is a developing story and will be updated. Public Safety and Breaking News Reporter Bailey Gallion can be reached at bagallion@ This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Evacuation ordered in Vinton County, Ohio, near Hocking Hills
