BY--BILL ALEXANDER, FOX 41 NEWS balexander@Fox41.com
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB Fox 41) -- The smell at times was thick and nauseating, and when the wind blew in your direction, it was almost enough to knock you off your feet. Just before noon Sunday, an emergency notification was made through the Rubbertown Community Hotline about a chemical spill at Dow Chemical on Campground Road.
The chemical leaking from a railroad car was methyl-methacrylate and ethyl acrylate. Those are flammable chemicals used in the production of rubber products. They can cause major health problems.
Captain Jody Meiman with the Lake Dreamland Fire Department tells Fox 41, "We decided to go ahead and sound the community awareness sirens as a precaution, after further investigation we put water fog on the railcar to suppress vapors and everything."
Firemen and health officials say the vapors were suppressed to acceptable levels and the alert was called off by mid afternoon. Louisville Health Department officials were on the scene for most of the morning and afternoon checking the air quality, measuring volatile organic carbons.
Ebony Cochran who lives on the other side of the Dow plant came to the scene to ask questions about the alert systems that are in place. She still says first responders and health officials need to do a better job with notifications to residents who are often overlooked.
Cochran said, "I wanted to see what sort of tools they were using to notify the community, I wanted to see what sort of tools they were using to notify the community. I don't hear any sirens. I don't hear any alarms and I didn't get a telephone call. We feel like if you have these tools and you don't use them, then it is just as good as you not telling people there has been an incident." Cochran said.
