Nyack Hazmat 4-20-06

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Here are some shots from a Hazmat incident in Nyack, NY (Rockland County) from an hour ago. The incident took place at 131 North Midland Ave in a school and involved the mixture of some chemicals. The Rockland County Hazmat Team was requested to the scene for the evaluation & clean up of the chemicals. 1 person exposed was transported by Nyack Ambulance to Nyack Hospital.

The rest of the photos can be viewed at:

Nyack Hazmat 4-20-06

Brian Duddy - Central Nyack F.D. / NJMFPA

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So what did they find? How is the party that was transported?

[RocklandFires 44]

So what did they find?  How is the party that was transported?

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An excerpt from the Rockland Edition of the Journal News:

NYACK — Fifteen staff members at the BOCES building on North Midland Avenue were evacuated and a worker was hospitalized yesterday after bottles of hydrochloric acid broke.

The 54-year-old worker from Montvale, N.J., was attempting to move about 15 unmarked glass containers from a custodial area on the bottom floor of the Board of Cooperative Educational Services' Educational Resource Center when some shattered, Nyack Fire Chief Miles Taylor said.

"He carried them outside and dropped them," he said. "He put it in the garbage and was cleaning up the broken glass when he was overcome by the fumes."

The building, also home to Rockland Middle School and Hudson Valley High School, was mostly empty at the time of the 3:45 p.m. spill, building supervisor Albert Moschetti said.

About 15 staff members were evacuated.

The Rockland County Hazardous Materials Team donned gray Tychem suits to obtain samples of the chemical outside the building's southern side, HazMat Operations Chief Joel Kanasky said.

Kanasky said the couple of ounces of spilled acid was neutralized with an acid bath.

The team's infrared spectrometer identified the acid, which burns skin and causes respiratory distress, Kanasky said.

The worker was taken by Nyack Community Ambulance Corps to Nyack Hospital. Rockland Paramedic Services also responded.

Taylor said another staff member in the building, who left before paramedics arrived, may have been exposed to the acid. He was contacted at home in Newburgh and was advised by paramedics to go to the hospital, Taylor said.

The Hazmat Team secured the remaining containers in a chemical storage bin and BOCES will be responsible for disposing of them properly through a hazardous waste disposal contractor, Kanasky said.

The building was reopened at 5:30 p.m., in time for last night's adult education classes, Moschetti said.