Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

GFD responds to chemical leak

Wednesday, August 22, proved to be a busy day for the Gurdon Fire Department and many others.

At 12:58 p.m. Jim Burns, with the Office of Emergency Services, was notified of a tanker car headed southbound on a Union Pacific train to be leaking Methanol.

The tanker was located about 350 yards from the Gurdon underpass.

Methanol (methyl alcohol) is produced from the distillation of wood and is a clear, colorless, volatile liquid with a weak odor.

Methanol is used in the industrial production of many synthetic organic compounds and is a constituent of many commercially available solvents.

The Gurdon Fire Department responded promptly and began to spray a mist of water on the tanker to cool it down. Heat caused the Methanol to expand and leak faster. By spraying cool water on the tanker the leak was slowed down in order to fix it.

Union Pacific Railroad quickly located its Hazardous Materials Specialist Ken Simpson. Simpson arrived and assessed the situation.

After Simpson's assessment, it was discovered the tanker had a faulty valve which was allowing the Methanol to expand and leak out. Simpson also decided the tanker had been loaded too full at its filling point.

Eagle Environmental, out of Little Rock, arrived and used a plugging material similar to molding clay and fixed the faulty valve.

The train was released at 3:40 p.m. and was headed to Hope to be off loaded.