Hazardous Materials

The Pennsylvania State Police placed 139 trucks out of service and issued 572 traffic citations during a one-day statewide enforcement effort focusing on commercial vehicles that transport hazardous materials, Commissioner Frank E. Pawlowski announced Tuesday in a press release. The Commercial Motor Vehicle Safe Transportation of Placarded Substances detail (STOPS) was conducted Sept. 22 by state police motor carrier enforcement team members. "Each year, about 200 trucks transporting hazardous materials on our nation's highways are involved in fatal crashes and 5,000 others are involved in nonfatal crashes," Pawlowski said in the release.

By CLYDE FORD Staff Writer, Charles Town MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - An estimated 36,000 pounds of hazardous materials are carried per hour by tractor-trailers on Interstate 81 through Berkeley County, according to a study presented to the Berkeley County Commission on Thursday. "It only takes one wreck and we could have a major incident," said Berkeley County Emergency Services Director Stephen Allen. Allen presented a report to the commission prepared by the Local Emergency Planning Committee on the transportation of hazardous materials.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Local emergency officials estimate that one of every two tractor-trailer rigs traveling through Berkeley County on Interstate 81 is carrying hazardous materials. About 33 percent of the trucks carrying hazardous materials are hauling flammable liquids such as gasoline, diesel fuel or jet fuel, according to a survey completed last June by the Berkeley County Office of Emergency Services. Emergency Services Director Steve Allen said the survey did not contain any surprises.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - New hazardous materials equipment could save valuable minutes in confining a toxic spill in Franklin County. The Franklin County Emergency Management Agency historically has relied on Cumberland County's hazardous materials response team, but it purchased a $10,000 trailer last month that can carry decontamination equipment to the scene of an incident, and the agency is starting a push to train local volunteers to become certified hazardous materials technicians, said Don Eshleman Jr., Franklin County Emergency Management Coordinator.

HANCOCK - A tractor-trailer loaded with hazardous materials collided with another tractor-trailer Friday on Sideling Hill west of Hancock, Maryland State Police in Hagerstown said. A 1999 Mack truck driven by Curtis Allen of Chambersburg, Pa., was traveling east on Interstate 68 at about 3:25 p.m. when the truck rear-ended a 2000 Freightliner truck driven by Eugene Campbell of Whiteville, N.C., police said. Allen, who believes he might have fallen asleep, was charged with failure to control speed to avoid a collision, police said.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Franklin County recently joined about half a dozen other counties in Pennsylvania that have created a Department of Emergency Services. The county's emergency communications system, emergency management agency and hazardous materials offices are now under one director, according to Jerry Flasher, the new director of emergency services. "I want to applaud Franklin County for what I consider a quantum leap in emergency management," said Joe Daugherty, director of the Central Area Office of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.

$50,000 truck purchased by county By ANDREW SCHOTZ / Staff Writer, Martinsburg MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Berkeley County is replacing its hazardous materials response vehicle, which is a converted soda delivery truck with 344,000 miles on its odometer. The Berkeley County Commissioners on Thursday approved the purchase of another vehicle, a 1984 GMC/Ranger, from West Potomac Fire Equipment in Williamsport, Md. The $50,000 purchase price is covered by a state economic development grant secured by state Sen. John Unger, D-Berkeley.

tarar@herald-mail.com A Boonsboro propane gas supplier has agreed to reimburse customers tens of thousands of dollars for charging hazardous materials fees that were not part of customer service agreements, the Maryland Attorney General's office announced Wednesday. The attorney general's Consumer Protection Division alleged Thompson Gas of 6708 Old National Pike violated the Maryland Consumer Protection Act by having consumers enter into three-year service agreements then charging an additional $2.97 monthly hazardous materials fee that had not been disclosed in the contract.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - There were at least a few people in Martinsburg who might not have been too pleased with Wednesday's warm temperatures. Twenty-three firefighters from four different fire departments were drilling during the third day of a week-long course dealing with hazardous materials. Part of the course involved putting on protective suits, complete with a self-contained breathing apparatus, to test their coordination. The firefighters wore the gear while performing drills that included sweeping up clumps of dirt, dribbling a basketball around small orange cones and screwing together pieces of pipe.

A contract for a company to start removing hazardous materials at the Baldwin House complex for what will become the University System of Maryland Hagerstown Education Center is expected to be awarded in early May, a system official said Tuesday. The contractor, which would also shore up the complex in downtown Hagerstown, would be expected to start work soon afterward, said Mark Beck, University System capital planning director. The $870,000 for that work is in this year's state budget.

A blue liquid found inside a suspicious package on a Mapleville Road driveway Thursday night proved not to be hazardous, according to a Washington County emergency service official. The liquid had a neutral pH, had no odor or any other indication it was hazardous, Deputy Emergency Services Director Charlie Summers said Friday. The black package found shortly after 7 p.m. on Tuesday on the 21000 block of Mapleville Road was about 1-foot wide and 1-foot deep and had the word “contaminants” written on it, fire officials said on Thursday.

After about 2 1/2 hours of careful inspection, rescue officials Wednesday night determined that a suspicious package found at a driveway on Mapleville Road contained some type of blue liquid inside it, a fire official said. “Exactly what it is, I don't know,” said Deputy State Fire Marshal Ed Ernst as authorities were leaving the scene about 10:30 p.m. The package was on the driveway at about 5 to 10 feet from the road, said Terry Stouffer, chief of Mt. Aetna Vol. Fire Co. Stouffer said the package was black, about 1-foot wide and about 1-foot deep, with the word “contaminants” written on it. Authorities were able to rule out any explosives in the package, which was similar to a Rubbermaid container, Ernst said.

The Pennsylvania State Police placed 139 trucks out of service and issued 572 traffic citations during a one-day statewide enforcement effort focusing on commercial vehicles that transport hazardous materials, Commissioner Frank E. Pawlowski announced Tuesday in a press release. The Commercial Motor Vehicle Safe Transportation of Placarded Substances detail (STOPS) was conducted Sept. 22 by state police motor carrier enforcement team members. "Each year, about 200 trucks transporting hazardous materials on our nation's highways are involved in fatal crashes and 5,000 others are involved in nonfatal crashes," Pawlowski said in the release.

HAGERSTOWN -- In a way, veteran Hagerstown firefighter Richard T. "Dick" Hopkins' work experience has come full circle in his new job with the International Association of Fire Fighters. Hopkins joined that union in 1974 when he became a relief driver and later an apparatus operator at Western Enterprise Fire Co. "Then, I became a battalion chief in 1980 and I was out of the union," he said, having joined management with that promotion. Hopkins, 56, was serving in that supervisory position when he learned that the IAFF had an opening at the national headquarters in Washington, D.C., just two blocks from the White House.

Editor's note: On Fridays, Herald-Mail reporters and editors will answer some of the questions that are called in by readers to Mail Call. Consider this us returning your call. What kind of trash can you put out? Comment: "I just want to let people know I talked to City Hall, and we can now put any type of trash out along with your garbage, as long as it's under 50 pounds, no chemicals or no tires. " - Hagerstown Answer: City Engineer Rodney Tissue said "any type of trash" is too much of a generalization.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - About 150 people were evacuated from the Wal-Mart along U.S. 340 north of Charles Town Sunday night after two people inside reported having respiratory problems, a fire official said. Emergency officials sampled the air inside the store but detected no problems, said Ed Smith, chief of Independent Fire Co. It is possible the two people smelled an odor that was common in the store but odd to them, Smith said. The store was closed about 8 p.m. but was expected to reopen about 10 p.m., according to Smith.

WAYNESBORO, Pa. - Ongoing tensions between the Washington Township Municipal Authority and some of the township's elected officials showed no signs of ending early this week. The township supervisors met Monday and criticized aspects of the municipal authority's plans for a new building. The municipal authority met Tuesday and questioned why some of the supervisors are demanding more detailed reports about the water and sewer systems. "I don't know that we have other people smart enough to read the reports," said Jeff Geesaman, president of the municipal authority's board.

SCOTLAND, PA.-Scores of pickup trucks and other vehicles lined the streets leading to the Greene Township Municipal Building Friday as residents gave up their tired furniture, poorly functioning appliances and the wretched refuse of their cluttered homes for the Spring Bulk Collection. By 11 a.m., about 250 vehicles had passed through the line, leaving washing machines, dryers, refrigerators, mattresses, box springs, lawn mowers, barbecue grills, sofas, birdbaths, exercise machines and other debris of a disposable society.

WAYNESBORO, PA. - After no comment was offered from residents during a public hearing Wednesday, a recycling center proposed on East Sixth Street was unanimously approved by the Waynesboro Borough Council. The center will weigh materials from businesses and residents, then purchase and process them, Brandon Williard said. The recycled material is sent to mills, he said. Williard opened Tri-State Recycling in Shippensburg, Pa., in 1999 and said the move will provide a slight expansion.

In Kent County, people can find out in a matter of minutes how their officials would react in the event of an emergency. In Wicomico County, people asking for the same documents are told releasing the information is against county policy. Across the state, auditors asking for their community's Comprehensive Emergency Response Plan - a document that by federal law should readily be available to the public - were met with distrust, disorganization and denials. Of 23 Maryland jurisdictions surveyed, only six auditors were able to immediately obtain the document.