Thermometer Cause of HazMat Response
Incident was minor, but fire department used all precautions. No one was ever in any danger.
Last night Patch reported a mercury spill on Pond St. that required a Tier 1 hazmat. The spill was quickly contained, and Westwood Police said that the incident had no effect on traffic, as no roads were being closed. The spill was in fact mercury, and the reason it was contained so quickly was because there was so little of it. In fact, the mercury came from a broken thermometer inside a home on Pond St. "In order to recover mercury, you need a spill kit," Westwood Fire Chief William Scoble said. "You have to come in and measure it and package it. It was very minor." So minor, in fact, that the fire department showed the resident how to dispose of the mercury properly themselves, instead of disposing of it for them.
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Parker
4:18 pm on Tuesday, November 27, 2012
I remember (not that long ago!) that my 7th grade science teacher gave each one of us a little blob of mercury to play around with on our desks. We'd fling it back and forth and have fun with it. Some of us, even smuggled a bit out! My, oh my, how times have changed. more ›