Hazmat spill closes 395
Fifty-five gallons of organic peroxide leaked onto Highway 395 on Saturday July 26, leaving the road closed between the junctions with State Route 182 and Bodie Road SR-270. The closure lasted from just after 7 a.m. until approximately 8 p.m. California Highway Patrol (CHP) was the first to arrive on scene and maintained a joint command with CalTrans and Mammoth Lakes Fire Department (MLFD) throughout the day.
A driver with Mountain Valley Express, transporting seven different hazardous materials, was heading north towards Reno when he slammed on his brakes to avoid a deer crossing the road.
“He avoided a collision,” said CHP Sergeant Eric Jones. “But hitting the brakes caused the load inside to shift and it was compromised. That’s when the leak began.”
The driver noticed the leak and pulled over to the right shoulder of Highway 395 near Point Ranch “fairly quickly” Jones said. Once CHP Bridgeport area officers realized he was carrying a mixed load of hazardous materials they shut down the highway to all traffic in both directions.
“When we think hazardous materials, we think about big tank trucks driving down the road,” Jones said. “But this was a cargo tank truck. We didn’t know what was leaking or what had combined with what and was now leaking. Organic peroxide smells really strong like vinegar. We had no idea what was coming out of the truck but all we knew was it smelled horrible.”
MLFD, with the only Hazmat team in the area, was called to the scene at the request of Bridgeport Fire. “If you’ve ever seen one of those movies with the guys in the big plastic suit and breathing machine,” Jones said. “The Fire Department guys had to go out in one of those suits and you can imagine what that was like in the heat.”
MLFD Captain Frank Frievalt and his team responded, learning that the driver was experiencing some kind of irritation and cross-checking shipping documents to figure out what chemicals they were dealing with. En route, they pulled over several times as reports of an additional three patients came in, troubleshooting problems on the drive.
“What made this a relatively rough call from a hazmat perspective is that it was a mixed load,” Frievalt said. “You’ve got a trail with multiple classifications that you are going off and you have to wonder about the reliability of what’s in there.” There are 9 classifications of hazardous materials including gases, flammable liquids and solids, and radioactive materials. Organic peroxide is a class 5 oxidizing agent.
“As firefighters we are used to rushing into things and taking care of things quickly,” said MLFD Engineer Tomaier, who was also on the call. “But this is a rigorous process and we have to take it step by step.”
MLFD said that hazmat tech training is intense and over a month long, something that would be difficult for the volunteer fire departments in the area to undertake. This is only the third hazmat call MLFD has had since the inception of the program.
“We responded to take care of the operational entry containment and confinement,” Frievalt said. Once they determined that no other chemicals were leaking, MLFD handed over cleanup to Patriot Environmental, contracted by Mountain Valley Express.
During the incident, nearby residents were advised of a “voluntary evacuation or shelter in a place” policy, said CHP Officer Jones. “Everyone knew you need to be inside with all the windows shut or you need to leave,” he said. CHP officers and Caltrans were stationed at SR-182 and SR-167 to provide information about possible detours around the closure.
“We realized that it’s not a popular decision to close the road [on a Saturday during the summer]” Jones said. “But we would be negligent to not close the road and have people driving past unknown chemicals.”
Four people were exposed to the organic peroxide and were treated with minor respiratory issues. Officer Jones said there is no visible damage to the road itself.
