Explosion, chemical spill on Avenue Louis Pasteur
By adamg - 4/16/09 - 9:48 am
Boston Fire at the Merck building. Photo by Robert Beene.
Getting Twitter reports of an incident at the Merck building on Avenue Louis Pasteur.
Channel 4 reports chemicals in the process of being removed for disposal mixed, exploded, caused a spill that forced the evacuation of the building and the closing of nearby roads. Nobody hurt.
NECN reports the incident happened around 9:35 a.m.
Comments
Yikes
I type too slowly. Feel free to delete or merge my copy of the same story to this one, Adam.
Great minds think alike
Thanks! News travels fast these days :-).
Latin School Visit
my 6th grade daughter is visitng Boston Latin (on Avenue Louis Pasteur) for the day to get an idea of what the school will be like for next year. what a way to break her in to downtown craziness
What 'Level 3' means
It's the highest level of incident (note: That link goes to a six-year-old Boston Fire overview; if anybody has a more recent link, let me know).
Helpful info
It begs for a 2D grid presentation.
"a small pop"
Everyone be extra careful- Boston Fire is busy looking busy.
There's a "mobile command center" (aka Ultimate Tailgate vehicle), rescue truck, 6 fire trucks...I counted at least 4 suburbans (district chiefs) plus some assorted BFD sedans.
Which pretty much means that if your apartment in Roxbury catches fire right now, you're screwed.
A typical Brett response
Well, it didn't take very long for Brett to come up with an inflammatory, inane response.
Whether it was a "small pop" or major explosion, the chemicals used in this building require a major response because they are volatile, and could be dangerous or fatal if someone is exposed to them in certain situations. Is that the fire department looking busy, or doing their job to make sure everyone in the building is safe?
And for your information, most of the fire companies at this incident weren't even from the Roxbury district; they are dedicated HAZMAT companies from different locations around the city. Roxbury and the other 10 fire districts in the city were adequately covered in case of another emergency.
I'm not sure why you always come on here on spew anti-public safety rhetoric, and seem to act as if you know what you're talking about. Do you have something against public safety agencies? Or, do you simply enjoy being inflammatory?
Either way, the response was necessary and adequate, and the city was covered.
You're a punk. If there is
You're a punk. If there is a fire in Roxbury, there will be enough help to handle it.
Occupants being let back in
Starting around 11:53.