| At approximately 10:00 AM on Friday July 3rd, the Nanuet Fire department was alerted to a chemical spill involving a Chlorine tanker car. The incident was located on First St by the Normandy Village Townhouse Complex and in close proximity to the Naurashaun Brook.
Upon being dispatched, 44-Control advised that the truck involved was carrying about 3500 gallons of Chlorine; the help of the Rockland County Haz-Mat team was immediately requested. Once on the scene, Asst Chief Knapp confirmed the leak, and determined that the Chlorine was flowing directly into a storm drain which empties into the Naurashaun Brook. Chief Mattera then requested the assistance of a fast team from Pearl River and that a Command post be set-up at the intersection of First St. and College Ave. Personnel from the Clarkstown police OEM, the DEC, United Water, the Rockland County Health department and numerous ambulances were also requested.
The Haz-Mat team arrived on the scene within 10 minutes and prepared to investigate the leak further. The Team put on chemical resistant suits and were using Self Contained Breathing Apparatus. Due to the volatile nature of Chlorine of this nature, it would cause immediate burns to skin, eyes and lungs if exposed. The decision was made to use the City Watch "reverse 911" system to notify all residents of the Normandy Village to complex to stay indoors and close all windows.
The Haz-Mat team stopped the leak in approximately 1 hour but an estimated 400-500 gallons of chemical had already spilled out, leaking into the brook. An odor was starting to become present in the air downstream as well as some dead fish, which is sign of the distance the leak had traveled. Once again, the City Watch system was used to advise all residents in Clarkstown and Orangetown living in the vicinity of the brook to stay indoors and close all windows. The decision was also made to close and evacuate nearby Lake Nanuet swimming pool, taking into consideration the path of the brook is directly next to the pool.
Now with the leak stopped, an additional Haz-Mat cleanup crew was called with special pumps and large containment equipment to remove the remaining 3000 gallons of Chlorine on the tank car. This process lasted about 4 hours and as the heat of the day arrived the odor of Chlorine became more prominent in the area.
The decision was then made to flush the Naurashaun Brook from Nanuet to Pearl River; this was accomplished by requesting additional pumpers and personnel from our mutual aid departments to begin dumping large volumes of water into the brook. Mutual aid departments set-up from Rte 59 to Blauvelt Road in Pearl River along the Naurashaun Brook and for the next 3 hours used countless gallons of water from fire hydrants to dilute the Chlorine and prevent anymore wildlife contamination.
At approximately 4:00 PM the Chlorine smell subsided and the contamination danger had passed and command called the situation under control. All units and volunteers began clearing and returned to quarters by 5:00 pm, 7 full hours after the initial call. |
