Spill Causes Evacuation, Sticky Mess Substance Thought To Be Hazardous Is Rotten Molasses

Wed., Sept. 18, 1996

By Brian Coddington brianc@spokesman.com

A brown, gooey substance oozing from a 55-gallon barrel closed a busy Spokane Valley intersection for nearly two hours Tuesday afternoon while authorities examined the spill from a safe distance.

A label on the side of the barrel declared the contents to be propionic acid, a flammable, hazardous liquid, said Karl Bold, Valley Fire assistant chief.

The foul odor also worried Valley and city firefighters, who weren’t taking any chances.

Assisted by state and local agencies, they closed the intersection of Broadway and Fancher and diverted traffic away from the spill.

All for a bunch of molasses.

The precautions turned out to be unnecessary when Ken Rockhill, manager of Purina Mills, pulled up about 5:20 p.m. and claimed the barrel.

The only thing hazardous about the spill was the smell, Rockhill told firefighters. The substance was rotten molasses.

An employee was taking the mix of molasses, feed and grain home to use as fertilizer for his flower beds. The barrel fell out of the vehicle.

Rockhill got wind of the spill and suspected it might be a Purina barrel.

“As soon as I saw it on the news I thought I better come and straighten it out,” he said.

Rockhill said the company frequently uses the recycled barrels after crossing out the labels.

Shawn Johnson and Marie Gray watched from a safe distance while two members of the city’s hazardous materials team pulled on special suits to investigate the unknown substance.

“It’s got a really bitter smell to it,” said Johnson, a clerk at the nearby Maid O’Clover service station.

The station, which had cars filling up at every pump, was one of two businesses evacuated by authorities minutes after the spill was reported at 3:34 p.m.

“We were just told to lock up, shut off the pumps and go,” Johnson said.

“We’ve got to do the right thing,” said Valley Fire Chief Pat Humphries. “When it comes in like an acid, we treat it like an acid. With all those markings on (the barrel), what else do you do?”

, DataTimes

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