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About 500 pounds of liquid chlorine leaked from Youngstown’s wastewater plant
By Joe GORMAN
and David Skolnick
YOUNGSTOWN
A chlorine leak — described as “significant” by Fire Chief John J. O’Neill Jr. — at the city’s wastewater treatment facility forced several streets to be closed until today.
It also shut down Performance Place Industrial Park, a business facility across the street from the treatment plant on Poland Avenue, also expected to reopen today.
About 500 pounds of liquid chlorine leaked before a valve was shut off, said Silverio Caggiano, a battalion chief who also handles hazardous-materials calls for the fire department.
About 50 employees were inside the building when the leak was detected about 9:10 a.m., said Charles Shasho, deputy director of the city’s public-works department. All but one employee was able to get out of the facility quickly, Shasho said.
“We had one man missing for a short period of time,” he said.
City officials at the scene said a worker was checked at a hospital as a precaution.
Thomas Mirante, wastewater superintendent, said he doesn’t know how long the leak was going on before he discovered it on the plant’s computer monitoring system.
Hazmat teams from Mahoning and Trumbull counties assisted in dealing with the leak. Shasho said the leak stopped about 11:30 a.m. The teams left the scene about 12:30 p.m.
It isn’t known what caused the leak, and that won’t be determined until after the chlorine gas dissipates and the site can be inspected, Shasho and Mirante said.
“It’s pretty volatile stuff,” Shasho said. “Chlorine gases are highly toxic and they move very fast. You have very little time to get out of there once you’re exposed to it.”
Wastewater crews monitored the venting process overnight to make sure it proceeded at a normal pace and that too much would not be released into the atmosphere at one time.
“It could have been a much more serious incident,” said Mayor John A. McNally. “You don’t want to mess with” chlorine.
Chlorine is used as a disinfectant of the wastewater, Mirante said.
The chlorine could be harmful if inhaled at a rapid rate, said fire department Battalion Chief Gary Ditullio.
It is commonly used as part of the sanitation process for industrial waste and sewage, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website.
Those exposed to “dangerous concentrations of chlorine” could get blurred vision; burning pain, redness and blisters; a burning sensation in the nose, throat and eyes; coughing; chest tightness; difficulty breathing; fluid in the lungs; nausea and vomiting; watery eyes and wheezing, according to the centers’ website.
Nearby businesses were evacuated and several streets blocked off in the area after the leak.
Poland Avenue between Gibson and Powersdale avenues as well as the Himrod Avenue Expressway between Williamson Avenue and Albert Street were closed after the incident and are to reopen today at 8 a.m., said Tom Sakmar, the city’s street department foreman.
Ziegler Tire & Supply Co., located across the street in Performance Place, closed as a safety precaution upon the recommendation of city officials. However, the company continued to have its trucks, which carry tires, run as they already had left the business before the leak, a company manager said.
CSX rail traffic also was being limited around the plant overnight. Caggiano said that was because the trains may provide a powerful draft that would suck the vapor out of the building at a faster than normal pace.
The plant was built in 1963 and provides primary treatment, clarification and disinfection of wastewater for the city as well as portions of Austintown, Boardman, Liberty and Hubbard.
The facility had improvement work done in 1984 to the primary treatment system and a rebuilding of its sludge disposal system.
A year later, work began on the secondary treatment facility including a secondary pump station, filters and a sludge aeration system. That work was finished in 1989.