SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. – A waste station in the Spokane Valley was closed from a potentially hazardous material found in a smoking barrel.
Spokane Valley Fire Department said the Spokane County Solid Waste Valley transfer Station on North Sullivan Road was closed at around 2:30 p.m. after employees found a barrel in the waste. It is managed by Waste Connections of Spokane.
Fire officials said employees at the station were moving waste in a front loader when they noticed a smoking barrel. They believed the barrel was on fire and started to spray it with water, fire officials said. But when they did that a strong fume cloud appeared from the 55 gallon plastic barrel, fire official said. The barrel was unmarked and almost full of liquid.
About a dozen employees and customers were evacuated. Three people were transported to the hospital as a precautionary measure. Crews tested the liquid inside the barrel and found it was acid with a flammable chemical present, according to fire officials.
Spokane Valley Fire Department and the City of Spokane’s Hazardous Material’s conducted the investigation. Waste Connections of Spokane has taken over the investigation.
