Acid spill closes intersection
Evergreen Assistant Fire Chief Craig Williams inspects a suspicious plastic jug Wednesday morning at the intersection of Whitefish Stage Road and West Reserve Drive. A hazardous materials team later determined the substance was muratic acid. Karen Nichols/Daily Inter Lake.
A major Kalispell intersection was shut down by an acid spill Wednesday morning.
By JOHN STANG
The Daily Inter Lake
A broken jug of muratic acid closed the intersection of Whitefish Stage Road and West Reserve Drive on Wednesday.
No one was injured in the incident.
It was unknown early Wednesday afternoon when the acid spill would be cleaned up or when the intersection would be reopened.
it was also unknown how the jug ended up broken in the intersection.
Muratic acid - also spelled "muriatic acid" - is another name for hydrochloric acid.
When Liz Marchi, president of Montana West Economic Development, went to work at its office Wednesday morning, she spotted the broken jug - which from a distance resembles a plastic milk jug - in the intersection next to the building. A whitish vapor came from the spill.
A co-worker jokingly told Marchi that she should remove the debris from the intersection. Marchi did not - chiefly because the traffic was too heavy.
The Evergreen Fire Department was called to the scene at about 8:45 a.m.
Although it has some firefighters trained in dealing with hazardous materials, it called in the Kalispell Fire Department for help at 9:38 a.m.
The area was taped off in a 50-foot radius around the spill. Whitefish Stage Road and West Reserve Drive were blocked to public traffic.
Fire department technicians in hazardous materials suits went into the cordoned area and tested the fluid with a litmus-type paper to discover the liquid had a pH of 1 - meaning it was extremely acidic, said Kalispell Fire Chief Randy Brodehl.
Additional tests identified the fluid as muratic acid, he said.
There were 10 to 15 cubic centimeters of fluid inside the container, Brodehl said. That's roughly a tablespoon or a little more.
An undetermined amount of acid has oozed into the asphalt.
Muratic or hydrochloric acid is very corrosive. It can damage lungs, eyes, skin and intestines upon contact.
It has many chemical purposes, including cleaning concrete and bricks.
The firefighter technicians provided blood pressure, pulse and respiratory readings before and after they entered the cordoned-off area for medical tracking purposes. They also used a shower-and-scrubbing tent to clean off after leaving the cordoned-off area.
The Montana Department of Transportation is in charge of contacting a company to clean the spill.
The Glacier Bank branch at that corner closed late morning since customers could not reach the building. Montana West and Payne Financial Group stayed open next to the intersection, although office employees expected no foot traffic.