No Hazardous Waste Despite Scare

Experts found no hazardous waste Wednesday after an attendant at a Stevens County garbage transfer station near Loon Lake was nauseated by a sulfurlike smell.

The attendant and a sheriff’s deputy who came to investigate were examined and released at a Spokane hospital. Officials said neither person showed any sign of exposure to hazardous chemicals.

Assistant Public Works Director Terry Davis said hazardous-materials teams from the state Ecology Department and the Spokane Fire Department found no hazardous chemicals at the transfer station.

Roads around the station, a mile east of U.S. Highway 395 on Grouse Creek Road, were closed much of the day as a precaution while officials examined a 750-pound load of household garbage.

The load had just been deposited when the female attendant, an employee of Olson Sanitation, became ill. Olson Sanitation provides garbage-handling services to the county.

Davis said the suspicious garbage will be spread out and re-examined at the landfill today before being buried.

, DataTimes