Central County : Chemical Spills at 2 Businesses Cleaned
Hazardous materials experts were called to two central county businesses Thursday night to clean up chemical spills, then to help fight a chemical fire that forced evacuation of the surrounding area.
The county hazardous materials team first picked up 15 gallons of petroleum naphtha, a highly flammable solvent used for degreasing and cleaning mechanical parts, at an Irvine laboratory.
Employees at American Bentley on Armstrong Avenue poured sand on the spilled chemical before firefighters arrived, a Fire Department spokeswoman said.
Within an hour of that call, the unit was dispatched to Tustin, where a furniture manufacturer’s 55-gallon drum of chemical waste spontaneously burst into flames, the spokeswoman said.
A chemical reaction among the hazardous waste materials started the blaze, which firefighters were able to stop before it spread to 30 nearby drums of chemicals at Cal Tech Cabinets on Franklin Avenue.
No injuries were reported in either case, the spokeswoman said, but 15 businesses near the Tustin fire were evacuated briefly.
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