Irvine : Rubbing Alcohol Leaks Out of Buried Tank

Explosive concentrations of rubbing alcohol leaked out of a huge underground tank at an Irvine firm early Thursday, forcing the evacuation of 28 employees but causing no major injuries, authorities said.

One worker at Container Corp. of America reported suffered breathing problems after inhaling vapors of isopropyl alcohol, county Fire Capt. Joe Kerr said. Randy Dodds, 31, of Costa Mesa was treated at a nearby hospital and released, according to fire officials.

Lane Waldner, a water pollution investigator for the county, said some alcohol seeped into storm drains and a flood-control channel that feeds into Upper Newport Bay. The contamination posed no health or environmental threat, Waldner said, because the alcohol “readily dissolves in large quantities of water.”

Employees at the firm at 1600 Barranca Parkway reported the leak to county firefighters at 1:57 a.m. Firefighters evacuated the employees, who were working in a small building into which the chemical was leaking, after discovering concentration levels of the vapors were potentially explosive, Kerr said.

It could not be determined how the alcohol--used by the box manufacturer to clean printing equipment--had leaked from the 2,000-gallon tank nor how much had seeped out.