Five Hospitalized After Inhaling Toxic Fumes Ramsey Road Landfill Station Closed For Six Hours

Five Kootenai County workers were hospitalized Monday after inhaling toxic fumes from a box of improperly discarded chemicals at the landfill transfer station.

None was seriously injured, and all were treated and released. But the Ramsey Road station was evacuated and closed for six hours while hazardous materials experts isolated the dangerous chemical - a type of swimming pool cleanser - and hauled it away.

County Solid Waste Director Steve Wulf said the episode was the most serious he’d seen at the station.

“I haven’t seen a reaction like this, ever,” Wulf said.

Landfill workers believe the chemicals were tossed out in an outlying area dump site, where the county keeps unpatrolled trash bins for rural residents’ convenience.

“It makes me a little perturbed,” Wulf said. “This is what can happen when hazardous materials aren’t taken care of properly.”

Residents disposing of dangerous chemicals are asked to drop them off at the transfer station, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Monday, workers were loading mounds of garbage into a truck to be hauled to the county landfill about 9 a.m. when they started hearing popping sounds and saw a 2-foot-square box emit a noxious vapor.

“It broke open and started reacting with the potato peels and other organic material and was giving off chlorine gas,” Wulf said. “It was snapping and crackling like a firecracker.”

A crane operator quickly yanked the box from the trash heap and set it on a concrete floor to avoid igniting a fire in the 20-ton stack of garbage.

In a matter of minutes, the odor grew stronger and some workers began feeling nauseous and having trouble breathing.

“I got a metallic taste in my mouth,” said equipment operator Terry Pollard. “I was thinking ‘I want to get out of here.”’

Wulf sent five of the workers to the hospital, and called authorities. A hazardous materials crew wearing green protective clothing removed the box of powder and sealed it in a 55-gallon drum.

Some of the hospitalized employees returned to work later in the day after the landfill reopened about 2:30 p.m.

“We’re usually pretty leery of crying wolf, but in this case, we made the right call,” Wulf said.

Tests later revealed the chemical to be an oxidizing compound typically used to clean swimming pools. Wulf has had chemical reactions from liquid pool cleaners before, but the fine powder sparked a more violent reaction.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: DISPOSAL Residents disposing of dangerous chemicals are asked to drop them off at the transfer station, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays.