A hazmat crew was in Golden on Nov. 29 to clean up a substance which had been dumped in a empty lot along side the Trans Canada Highway.
The dumpsite was originally spotted on Nov. 26 and a call was placed to the Golden Fire Department.
“People came across it and they were uncertain of what it was. What we did as the Fire Department was to go to the site to find out what it was. Unfortunately we were not 100 per cent sure. After contacting Veron Novosad we came up with an action plan to keep people back until we could get an idea of what it is,” said McClure.
Veron Novosad is an Environmental Emergency Response Officer for the Southern Interior of British Columbia who came out to the scene.
Novosad said it looked like the dump may have been made by someone driving a larger vehicle who had to dump product to make it legally across scales on the highway.
After the field test, the clean up crew knew the particles of the substance were made up of sodium or calcium but could not determine the whole compound.
“We have no idea what it is. We did some preliminary tests which told us it was corrosive. What was not realized was just how corrosive the material was,” he said.
The material ate through plastic bags and some plastic bins that were first used in the clean up effort.
“One of the containers that was tried to be used was plastic and it melted right through it. It is a ph of 13 out of a scale of 14. Sulphuric acid is at one, caustic soda is at 14. This is something like the soda and is one of the worst ones you can get,” Novosad said. “It is a powder that is compressed into something like a pebble gravel for drive ways.”
According to Novosad the product posed no threat to people in the town and precautions were made to keep people away from the area for safety reasons.
Golden fire fighters were on the scene as a precaution and also to help keep track of the temperature of the drums that the products was being stored in.
Approximately 12, 45 gallon drums were going to be used during the clean up.
“We have the whole area cleaned out. We have it barricaded off. Our plan is to have it all removed from here so that it is safe of the public again.
Once the determination is made on what the product was then it will be disposed of properly.
