Update: Possible explosion averted at Spokane, Washington, transfer station

A possible explosion was averted May 29 at a Spokane, Washington, transfer station after a vehicle transporting hazardous materials entered the facility.

The Spokane County Regional Solid Waste North Transfer Station was evacuated due to a white gas being emitted, according to a news release from the county.

Spokane County Public Works spokeswoman Martha Lou Wheatley-Billeter tells The Spokesman-Review that the truck's bed contained chlorine tablets, pesticides, and fertilizer—a combination that could have resulted in an explosion and the release of deadly gases. Wheatley-Billeter stresses the importance of caution and care when disposing of hazardous household waste, which is accepted at county transfer stations on Saturdays and Sundays.

“It doesn’t take much if they mix to cause a noxious gas cloud that can be damaging to anybody close by who happens to breathe it in,” Wheatley-Billeter says.

A couple of employees and the driver of the vehicle were exposed to the cloud and cleared with a clean bill of health by EMTs with Spokane County Fire District 4. The fire district passed the investigation of the incident to the Department of Ecology, Wheatley-Billeter tells The Spokesman-Review.

Firefighters investigated the incident, according to the county release, and the transfer station reopened the following day. Wheatley-Billeter tells Waste Today that no injuries were reported.

This article was updated June 5 to include information about the transfer station reopening.

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