August 11, 2009, Fox4 News
Fire Crews Investigate Chemical Leak At Bayer Plant
Kansas City fire and police crews were monitoring a chemical leak at the Bayer Plant at 8400 Hawthorne Road on Tuesday morning. Anhydrous hydrogen chloride was leaking from a tube trailer. Employees noticed the leak around 8:30 Tuesday morning and immediately sounded the alarm.
Bayer officials say the chemical is used for insecticides and pesticides. The chemical is an inhalation hazard and an absorption hazard, but there are no residences in the area and others in the area should be safe.
The leak was contained by several fire departments on the scene who sprayed it with water. The air in the area was also monitored. About 300 people were working at the plant at the time and are confined to an area away from the leak.
In addition to Kansas City fire and police, North Kansas City and Platte County Fire and Hazmat assisted in the cleanup.
The Kansas City Star, Aug. 11, 2009
Kansas City firefighters contain leaking gas at Bayer plant
A leak of corrosive gas brought several emergency crews to the Bayer CropScience plant in northeast Kansas City Tuesday morning. No one was injured, said Joe Vitale, Kansas City Fire Department spokesman. The leak was contained just after 2 p.m.
It began just after 8:30 a.m. when a cylinder containing anhydrous hydrochloric acid gas was being offloaded. No gas was released beyond the immediate area, said Greg Coffey, a company spokesman.
Crews dispatched to the facility at 8400 Hawthorne Road sprayed water over the affected area to suppress and contain the gas, Vitale said, and the product largely was neutralized when it comes into contact with the ground.However, much of the gas was captured from the cylinder and vented through normal processing equipment to neutralize it, said Paul Nagy, site manager.
The Kansas City Fire Department responded with a haz-mat crew and other units. Haz-mat crews from North Kansas City and South Platte County also were standing by during the morning. The site's fence line was being monitored Tuesday afternoon to make sure none of the anhydrous hydrochloric acid gas had traveled beyond the immediate site of the leak. The monitoring was being conducted by Bayer industrial hygienists, as well as area haz-mat units.
The cylinder that was the source of the leak had been transported to the Bayer facility by a vendor, said Nagy. Bayer representatives will work with the supplier to determine what caused the leak, he added.
The gas is used as a raw material in the production of herbicide products. By BRIAN BURNES
See video: http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/wdaf-bayer-plant-leak-081109,0,5401524.story?obref=obnetwork