Firefighters contain large chemical spill in Minneapolis
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Updated: 5:25 p.m. | Posted: 12:04 p.m.
Firefighters contained a large chemical spill at an industrial company in Minneapolis on Friday morning.
Hawkins Chemical, 3100 E. Hennepin Ave., was evacuated at about 8:15 a.m. when an estimated 5,700 gallons of nitric acid spilled.
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Minneapolis Assistant Fire Chief Bryan Tyner told KARE-TV that most of that was contained on-site, but about 600 to 700 gallons of nitric acid went into storm drains.
"There's no life safety concern at this time," Tyner said at a mid-morning news conference. "Right now we are monitoring the storm drains to see how far it may have traveled. ... So far the only product that we have found has been right in the immediate area of the facility. It doesn't appear that the product was able to travel very far."
Nitric acid is a highly corrosive, toxic liquid that can cause burns. Tyner said crews used soda ash to neutralize the corrosive chemical, then flushed the storm drains. No one was injured.
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and Minneapolis Public Works crews worked with the fire department to mitigate the spill.
Some nearby streets were closed during the response.
