Mishap Causes Chemical Cloud at Firm

Firefighters are used to dousing forgotten pots left smoking on stoves, but this one held 45 gallons of nitric acid and ammonia, an Anaheim Fire Department spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The city’s hazardous-materials team responded to Superior Plating Inc., 1901 E. Cerritos Ave., where workers had emptied the chemicals from a 4-foot by 2-foot fiberglass vat into three smaller containers, Capt. Tabby Cato said. But they forgot to shut off the burner under the vat, she said.

The heat burned a hole in the container, generating a cloud of thick smoke and setting off the overhead sprinkler about 5 p.m., Cato said. The sprinkler flooded the small buckets and sent a stream of the acidic mixture flowing through the building.

The blaze was under control by 6:15 p.m., she said.

Because they were initially unsure what chemicals were in the vat, 10 of the 29 firefighters who responded were decontaminated, as was their equipment, Cato said.

No one was hurt, and a damage estimate was unavailable, she said.