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Avenue Louis Pasteur shut as hazmat crews deal with small acid spill at medical-school building
By adamg on Tue, 08/07/2012 - 5:53pm
The Boston Fire Department reports crews rushed to 77 Ave. Louis Pasteur around 3 p.m. when a doctor moving some bottles of chemicals on the tenth floor jostled three bottles of acid that dropped to the ground and broke.
The doctor, wearing full protective gear, was not hurt when the two-liter bottles, containing hydrochloric acid and acetic acid, broke. She "self-deconned" herself and was allowed to leave after being checked out by Boston EMTs.
Police began re-opening the road to traffic shortly after 5:30 p.m.
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Comments
oh jesus...seriously?
Acetic acid is vinegar.
Hydrochloric acid is stomach acid.
Neither requires more than a large box of baking soda. Certainly not TWO AND A HALF HOURS of road closure. But hey, I guess BFD has to play with their toys and look busy? They set up two decon booths when the 'victim' wasn't even injured in the first place and self-decontaminated?
We're gonna need another Timmy!
Not quite correct, anon.
Vinegar is acetic acid, however a 2L carboy of acetic acid isn't vinegar. It's going to be concentrated to contain zero (or as close to zero as possible) water molecules. Pure or "glacial" acetic acid is corrosive and will burn you on contact. Vinegar on the other hand is only about 4% acetic acid and the rest is essentially water.
The same with hydrochloric acid. Gastric acid in your stomach is more salt than acid. There's only about 0.5% HCl in your stomach fluid. A pure 2L bottle of 30% HCl (commercial concentrate grade) will burn your flesh on immediate contact because of the high concentration and pH difference.
Furthermore, HCl spills lead to chlorine gas (toxic) if it mixes with oxidizers like bleach. Just by itself, it can create a toxic mist that will burn flesh if it evaporates as a concentrate. Depending on how the different chemicals that spilled combined or spread, there's also potential for damage to the building and the metal cabinet holding all of the other acids and chemicals that are still on the shelves.
So, no, you can't just toss baking soda on it and call it a day. 6 liters of concentrated acid on the floor requires a bit more of a qualified response than your Heloise tips, thanks.