By CHRISTINA YOON Special to the Daily Press
MONTANA AVENUE Santa Monica fire and hazardous materials crews, responding to complaints that people were having difficulty breathing, discovered a chemical waste spill behind a building on Montana Avenue on Thursday evening, according to Hazmat Specialist Capt. Mark Bridges.
Santa Monica Fire Department personnel arrived at 1119 Montana Ave. at around 5 p.m. on Thursday and found a five-gallon bucket of lacquer, thinners and solvents next to a dumpster in an alley. The bucket had been knocked over, and the fumes from the spill had entered the three businesses adjacent to the alley. The building was evacuated while specialists ventilated the businesses and tested the air inside.
The four people who complained of illness were evaluated on the scene, but none were taken to the hospital for further treatment.
Bridges said that the chemical waste was taken to the city’s household hazardous waste facility at the City Yards. He recommended that all Santa Monica residents take their chemical waste products to the facility themselves to avoid this type of dangerous situation.
“A lot of people aren’t aware and think that it’s too expensive to take it there,” he said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 28, 2008. Read the original PDF.