At 14:57 hours, Truck 20 was dispatched to 101 Technology Drive in the Murrysville Business Park at General Maintenance Products & Supply, Inc. for an ammonia spill inside the building with patients. With annual hose testing going on at the station, Truck 20 went enroute quickly with a crew of five. The truck arrived shortly behind Engine 22 and staged on Side A of the building to prepare for emergency decontamination of the patients if necessary. With all patients being accounted for and no need for emergency decontamination, all crews staged to await the arrival of Team 800 (Westmoreland Hazardous Materials Response Team). During this time, Murrysville Medic One transported two of the seven employees that had been inside when the spill occurred.
Once Team 800 arrived, an entry team was sent inside the building to assess the situation. There was 20 to 30 gallons of aqueous ammonia that had spilled out of a 55 gallon drum. The product had ran in various directions and was underneath pallets of other materials. While the entry team was inside the structure, the crew from Truck 20 helped assemble the decontamination area for the entry team. Every time an entry team exited the building they came through decontamination to ensure that there was no product left on their protective suits. Entry team #1 and #2 decontamination was handled by four operators from T20. Entry team #3 decontamination was handled by 78, 63, and 22. A total of three entry teams (made up of two Team members each) worked inside of the structure using absorb-all to soak up the spilled product. The product was then transferred to a bung.
When the spilled product had finally been safely absorbed and moved to a container, the vent trucks from Jeannette (Vent 112) and Westmoreland City (Vent 3) began to circulate air through the building to ventilate the dangerous fumes. Once the fans had run for an appropriate amount of time, members from Team 800 went back inside to monitor the air. Eventually the air inside the structure was deemed safe.
Crews were out a total of five and a half hours. Good job to all of those on scene who worked through a lengthy incident! Crews on scene included White Valley, Murrysville, Sardis, Export, Claridge, Harrison City, Jeannette, Westmoreland City, Westmoreland County Team 800, Murrysville Medic One, and Murrysville PD.
Thank you to the crew from Monroeville (41 Engine) for taking up the transfer assignment at Station 20!
