GARDEN GROVE : Spilled Pool Cleaner Causes Traffic Jam

A spilled gallon of swimming pool cleaner forced the closure of the westbound Garden Grove Freeway on Monday morning, causing a four-mile, rush-hour traffic jam.

The muriatic acid, which may have fallen from the back of a truck, emitted a cloud of white vapor when it spilled onto the westbound fast lane and center divider at Magnolia Avenue shortly after 8 a.m., said Lt. Don Henderson of the California Highway Patrol. The westbound freeway and the eastbound fast lane were closed immediately and were not reopened until 10:30 a.m.

The driver who was carrying the acid did not stop, Henderson said.

No injuries or accidents were reported, officials said.

Capt. Web Whitlock of the Anaheim Fire Department’s hazardous materials team, which handles toxic spills in Garden Grove, said that the spill was dangerous because the vapors could have caused breathing difficulties for motorists.

“That could cause accidents,” he said. “There was also the possibility that the acid could get on a car and ruin its paint.”

Caltrans officials said about 30,000 vehicles would normally use the westbound Garden Grove Freeway during the time it was closed.

Firefighters, wearing rubber gloves and boots, sprayed an alkaline solution on the acid to neutralize it, then washed it into a nearby storm drain.

Caltrans workers used the closure to fill in two large potholes just east of the spill.

Traffic was diverted onto Trask Avenue, and it was bumper to bumper to well past Harbor Boulevard.

Russ Humbersted, a 24-year-old San Diego resident, was taking his state bus driver’s examination when he was diverted off the freeway.

“I hope I’m showing that I can drive in California’s bumper-to-bumper traffic,” Humbersted said from behind the wheel of his Ford van, a stoic Department of Motor Vehicles examiner by his side.

Attorney Elmo Larkins, whose office is in Anaheim, was also taking the traffic jam in stride.

“I don’t like it but I’ll just have to grin and bear it,” he said. “What else can you do? You have no choice.”