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March 31, 2008

Update: No hazardous leak detected at VA hospital

Journal photo / Bill Murphy
Providence firefighters in hazardous materials suits enter the Veterans' Medical Center as they respond to an alalarm about an ethylene oxide leak this morning. No one was in the room at the time of the alarm, and no injuries were reported.

PROVIDENCE -- Firefighters, using special hazardous material detection equipment, found no leak of poisonous ethylene oxide from the Veterans Medical Center on Chalkstone Avenue this morning, according to Assistant Fire Chief Michael J. Dillon.

Firefighters wore special suits and went into a pressurized room where the material is contained. They detected no leak inside or outside.

An alarm came in at about 7:45 a.m. from the hospital, at 830 Chalkstone Ave., according to James Taylor, chief of communications for the Providence Fire Department.

A hazardous materials crew and police blocked off Regent Avenue, which leads into the center's complex.

James Burrows, director of communications for the center, said earlier today that the alarm went off in a room where equipment is sterilized. No one was in the room when the alarm went off, he said, and no one was in danger.

Ethylene oxide has many uses; in a medical setting, it's often used for sterilization. It's also flammable and highly reactive. Exposure can lead to lung irritation and injury, headaches, nausea and vomiting, and other problems.

-- projo.com staff writers Michael P. McKinney and Brandie M. Jefferson, with reports from Journal staff writer Gregory Smith and Journal staff photographer Bill Murphy

Journal Photo/Bill Murphy
Crews outside the VA Medical Center where they're investigating a possible chemical spill.

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 12:49 PM | Permalink

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