UMPD closed off Cold Storage Drive during the incident keeping folks away from lot 12
So for those of you wondering what that loud explosion was Friday night around 10:00 PM emanating from near UMass Graduate Research Center and reverberating to surrounding towns, fear not: nothing exotic like a terrorist attack or meth lab gone awry.
Although, it was lab related: an old, possibly unstable, container with less than 16 ounces of tetrahydrofuran turned up during a lab clean out and the normally clear liquid had started forming crystals, which are potentially explosive. Local authorities took no chances.
AFD Chief Tim Nelson, who is a district team leader for regional HazMat response, took command at the scene. The container was escorted to an out-of-the-way location near parking lot 12 and then detonated by Mass State Police bomb squad experts.
All in all, a seamless team effort by AFD, UMPD, UMass Environmental Health & Safety and Mass State Police.
AFD Central Station 4/12/13. DPW truck (rear) was used to transport chemicals out of town center
Back on April 12 AFD had a similar experience, only the potentially dangerous materials were brought directly to them. An Amherst resident cleaning out his dad's basement (dad was a former chemist) brought a cardboard box full of old unmarked chemicals to Central Station on a busy Friday afternoon.
The items were placed in the back of a very large DPW truck and quickly but gently escorted to the top of the Notch where they were destroyed in a controlled demolition.
AFD has four members on the Western Mass Regional Hazardous Materials Team and they drill on a monthly basis. Last night the training came in handy.
13 comments:
Where, exactly, are the "hazardous materials" supposed to go when they are disposed of in this way? If they are merely "chemical" then some might be "cracked" by the high temperatures and rendered less hazardous, but the rest will simply be dispersed into the environment. This would certainly not be the way to dispose of "hazardous materials" containing radionuclides, however.
Yeah, my concern with radionuclides is some Nitwit purposely sets them off via a detonation as in "dirty bomb."
Of course, now I'm also concerned the NSA will be knocking at my door since I just did a Google search for "radionuclides in dirty bomb" just to double check.
And "Amherst" is also apparently already on their list. Double yikes!
I fear more for my children in a radical leftist town like Amherst. There are some real wackos in this town. After I drop my kids and walk out the side door of the school I make sure it is properly locked as it often is not and the school does not send anyone around to check exits after the last bell. Really makes you wonder considering this town is perfect or some sicko Leftist Democrat to shoot innocent people.
We truly have a lot to worry about in this town. Considering the leading town cronies won't even allow people to vote on flying a flag, it really makes me wonder when the psychos might come out of the closet here. Let's pray our small town doesn't suffer for it's wacko view of the world.
I have to agree -- I don't know about this particular chemical but I did once help remove something chemically similar to what the "shoebomber" was using, same deal where it is OK as long as it is liquid, but not once it starts forming crystals -- and I do wonder, unless you *really* disperse it in an explosion, what is to prevent the remaining liquid from drying up and -- at that point -- becoming explosive itself?
The side door and the front door are open in the morning because kids are arriving at school. Glad I don't arrive after you. How would me and my child get in.
I worry about wackos like you. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. You're comments are ALWAYS over the top. My kids go to school with yours. I never knew you had such bizarre ideas and express them with such disdain and hatred. It's tea partiers like you that scare me.
I am referring to the doors after the last bell. Some days when I walk out of the doors at 9am they are ajar. No ones fault. Just that the way the doors are designed if you open the wrong door it does not close due to how a plate prevents it.
Sorry I am not a tea partier, nor part of any political party. It's far leaning political people like Lefties and Tea Partiers amongst other extreme political ideologists that I wonder about.
Fear not, considering this is farm country there is enough ammonium nitrate readily available in this area to blow up the state. Hopefully folks take the threat of terrorism seriously and realize that NY and Washington are no longer the only targets. Recently the current leader of Al Qaeda pleaded with his followers to cause any terror they could in this country big or small. Let's make sure to keep our eyes open and not overlook things that could be trouble.
And my references to Lefties was due to the fact that since Lincoln was shot many of the mass killings in this country were done not by NRA, flag wearing Neocons but progressive democrats.
Might have been good to have sent out a phone blast to the town about the blast. In NYC they get notices for everything from fireworks to plane fly-overs. Amherst is not bad about calling about various things. I wonder if adding something like Musante autodialing about the possibility of hearing a large blast would have been more beneficial to those concerned or if folks just thought it was those "damn college kids again".
What outlandish tales you tell,Walter. I worry that you actually believe them.
Speaking of explosions... since NCAA rules say that schools must average 15,000 people in attendance at least one out of every two years in order to keep their top-level FBS status and UMASS with the incredibly poor move to Foxboro can barely make 10,000, how long till they are shot down to second tier. How much over budget is the football program at this point with the loss and how much more do we have to pay for this complex decision, the only one of it's kind, to move a football team to a place that neither students nor alumnus can easily get to so that they could increase attendance.
"What outlandish tales you tell,Walter. I worry that you actually believe them."
Yeah Walt, I mean, talk about "hazardous material":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so-SG2TjaEk
"Yeah Walt, I mean, talk about "hazardous materials"
HA! You bet. The negative turn of feminism has really helped destroyed families in this country. The myths of feminism are astounding.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_sGn6PdmIo
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