Chemical Spill That Triggered I-5 Closure Not Perilous After All

Shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday, Caltrans workers and San Diego firefighters arriving on the scene of a chemical spill on Interstate 5 flipped open a federal guidebook to find a description of the properties of iron oxide, the yellowish powder they found near the Carmel Valley Road exit.

According to Caltrans spokesman Jim Larson, they learned that they were dealing with a “flammable, combustible material” that “may ignite itself if exposed to air.”

The decision was quickly made to close the freeway to protect motorists from the dangerous substance. It was closed at 4:40 p.m. and stayed closed for seven hours.

But according to county health officials, the powder turned out to be a nontoxic, non-flammable substance whose only health effects were possible irritation to the eyes and respiratory tracts of the motorists who drove through it during that 40-minute span.

Though the substance turned out to be much less dangerous than the guidebook originally indicated, officials from the four agencies agreed that, proper identification or not, the decision to close the freeway was the correct one--despite the resulting traffic snarls that held up motorists until 11:45 p.m., when the four southbound lanes were reopened.

Better Safe Than Sorry

“It’s a whole lot better to do that and have . . . nothing than to not do that and have 100 people drop dead after driving through it,” said Lloyd Needham, spokesman for the CHP.

Meanwhile, the California Highway Patrol said Friday that it was following up several leads--including an anonymous phone call that may have provided the license number of a pickup truck--in hopes of finding the driver responsible for spilling the 50-pound bag of yellow iron oxide on the freeway.

Caltrans officials also met Friday morning to devise ways of speeding up their response to such spills in order to prevent future traffic jams like the monumental one Thursday night.

If found, the driver of the truck or his company could be cited for traffic violations and required to pay the cost of cleaning the freeway of the yellow dust that lay in small mounds from 4 p.m. to 11:15 p.m.

“If we find him, he’s going to have a nice bill on his hands,” Larson said. “I hope he has insurance.”

The book used at the accident spill Thursday, the Emergency Response Guidebook published by the U.S. Department of Transportation, also notes that iron oxide “may reignite after the fire is extinguished” and “may burn rapidly with flare burning effect.” It also said that “runoff to sewer may create fire or explosion hazard; contact may cause burns to skin and eyes.”

Breathing Devices Urged

Under the heading “emergency action,” the guide suggests: “Keep unnecessary people away. Isolate hazard area and deny entry. Stay upwind. Wear self-contained breathing apparatus and full protective clothing.”

County health officials today described the powder as a nontoxic, non-flammable substance and said motorists who drove through the site before the freeway was closed need not consult a physician unless they felt ill.

“We perceive no health effects from that material after somebody has gone through it,” said Larry Aker, assistant deputy director of environmental health services for the county Department of Health Services. “So if you don’t feel bad, there’s no problem from our point of view.”

A health services spokeswoman released a statement reassuring motorists that “the only health effect of concern was that the dust would cause irritation to the eyes and respiratory tract. Iron oxide is a nontoxic pigment.”

Jay Barrow, a spokesman at the Washington-based Chemical Transportation Emergency Center said that there are two forms of iron oxide listed in the Condensed Chemical Dictionary. “Iron oxide” is considered non-hazardous and is not regulated by the federal Transportation Department. But “iron oxide spent,” which has been put through a chemical process, is hazardous and should be handled under the guidelines in the transportation guidebook, he said.

Still Proper Response

Despite the apparent initial confusion over the chemical, officials from Caltrans, the CHP, the Fire Department’s Hazardous Materials Unit and the county health department concurred that closing the freeway was the proper response.

“Our job is to look out for yours and mine and my family’s welfare,” said Larry Cooke, a Fire Department spokesman. “That’s what everybody’s doing these days. That’s what we’re being paid to do.”

Larson said the decision to close the freeway, which is ultimately the responsibility of the CHP, was correct and would be made again under similar circumstances.

According to the Automobile Club of Southern California, 167,000 cars travel the stretch of Interstate 5 between Carmel Valley Road and Del Mar Heights Road each day. But Steve Taylor, producer of Traffic Watch Services for the automobile club, said it is impossible to calculate the number of cars that were stuck in the seven-hour traffic jam Thursday.

About 14,000 people exiting the Del Mar track at the end of the racing day added to the traffic woes, he said.

After meeting Friday, Caltrans officials will consider suggestions to outfit private cleanup vehicles with emergency lights to help them get through traffic that delayed them Thursday, Larson said.

Cleanup crews from IT Corp. were first called by a Caltrans dispatcher at 5:15, and arrived at 6:20 p.m. But while attempting to sweep the powder from the freeway, they kicked up a dust cloud that spread to the northbound side of the freeway, and were told to stop by health officials, Larson said.

Vacuum trucks were called at 6:45 p.m. but did not arrive until 8:10 p.m., after loading up with water and traveling from Mira Mesa, Larson said. The trucks, capable of holding 3,000 gallons of water, were caught in traffic and needed a CHP escort to reach the scene.

They began washing and vacuuming the freeway at 8:30 under bright spotlights and left at about 11:15, Larson said. The total cost of the cleanup has not been calculated, he said.