TAYLORSVILLE, Utah, Sept. 22, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — No one was injured, and a Saturday night HazMat mystery was solved by Sunday morning after tense hours overnight.
A gaseous substance was seeping from a semi, an accompanying chemical odor, was causing concern. A whole neighborhood, near 4100 South and 1600 West in Taylorsville, was urged to shelter in place after Unified Fire officials were called to the scene, at about 10 p.m.
“We’ve got a semitrailer that’s got some chemicals — we’re thinking they’re mixed together,” Keith Garner, public information officer for UFA, said at the scene.
“So the truck was parked here earlier this afternoon, about 2 o’clock. The drivers smelled some smoke, so they just parked it and walked away. Some construction workers who were working pretty close in the area tonight called it in just after 10 p.m.,” Garner said.
Specialist were called to the scene and approached the semi in HazMat suits.
“The health department is on scene and the (trucking) company’s safety officer is on his way to get a better idea of exactly what the chemicals are,” Garner said. “The drivers left it almost in the middle of a lane. I don’t know what they were thinking.”
Update
By Sunday morning, officials had some answers to their questions.
“After additional tests it was determined that the chemicals in the truck were a 4’ deep acrylic compound that had started its chemical process due to the temp of the refrigerator truck getting too high,” says a Unified Fire tweet issued just after 9:30 a.m.
“The off gas from the truck had chemicals that can be dangerous but at the amounts it was producing they didn’t pose a danger to anyone. The truck has been moved to a storage yard for the next few days while it finishes its process. No shelter in place or evacuations in place.”
