Acid Leak Routs Seniors, Businesses

A Westminster home for senior citizens and nearly a dozen businesses were evacuated Wednesday after the discovery of leaking barrels of hydrochloric acid dumped behind a Little Saigon store, fire officials said.

A worker called police shortly before noon after finding three canisters propped up against a fence in the 14900 block of Dillow Street.

Clouds of acid were spewing out of at least one of the 5-foot-tall canisters.

Firefighters and a special hazardous materials unit were called to investigate and determined that the solution was the byproduct of a methamphetamine lab.

It was the third such dumping incident in the area in less than two months, fire officials said.

A crew from a private contractor that specializes in diffusing chemicals diluted the solution, which is strong enough to blow the valve off the top of the barrel.

“That’s what makes this unsafe, not knowing what was mixed, how long it had been mixed or how much was mixed,” said Battalion Chief Don Forsyth.

“This isn’t something that you can just go out and buy.”

Employees at 10 businesses and 50 senior citizens from the Family Christian Home, who are mostly Vietnamese immigrants, were evacuated.

The American Red Cross and the Westminster Senior Center provided translation services, food and shelter for many of the residents.

Others waited under trees or walked along Bolsa Avenue until they were allowed to return to their homes.

Minh Trong, a Vietnamese author who has lived in the two-story senior complex for 10 months, was working on a book when fire officials knocked on his door.

He left with only the gray sweats he was wearing, a pair of slippers and several Vietnamese magazines. “This is an inconvenience, but it’s worth it to make sure we’re safe,” Trong said.

Officials said such barrels are often used by drug dealers who mix substances to produce hydrochloric acid, which is used to make methamphetamine.

Police are conducting a criminal investigation, he said.

Huge barrels were also discovered last month about a mile away at Brookhurst Street and Hazard Avenue, although no one was evacuated, and on Aug. 18 at Weststate Street and Bolsa Avenue, where 50 people were evacuated from 15 businesses.