On Monday, December 14, at 8:05 AM, Columbus Fire was notified of a vapor cloud coming from a Waste Oil Reclamation Refinery and blowing across E. Fifth Avenue toward a major office complex.  The cloud was identified as Hydrogen Sulfide.  A HazMat incident was declared and evacuations were immediately ordered for nearly 4000 workers.  Fifth Avenue was closed for ½ mile either side of the incident.  Box 15 was summoned at 8:55 AM.  While enroute, our primary response unit was requested to establish two rehab sectors – one to the west of the incident and one to the east.  A call was placed for additional personnel to respond with our second unit.  Three members – all of whom are Haz-Mat Awareness and Operations certified, staffed each sector.  During the incident, three bystanders were treated for inhalation symptoms, one of which was taken to an area hospital for observation.

The cause of the leak was a runaway chemical reaction, triggered by a power failure.  The result was excessive pressure which causer a gasket to fail.  It would take several hours to cool the reaction down and relieve the pressure, so repairs could be made.  Columbus HazMat crews remained on scene most of the day, monitoring the progress and making sure that the process went smoothly and that no one entered the restricted zone.

Box 15 was on scene for more than 5 ½ hours, served 65 meals, 2+ gallons of coffee, 1+ gallon of Hot Chocolate, 4 cases of bottled water and 75 granola bars.  Our last unit was released from the scene at 2:35 PM.  Thank you’s are due to McDonalds in Gahanna for the donation of the food.

Because of the size of the incident limited photos are up. Click the link to see them. http://tinyurl.com/yhaondq