A mishap at a Curtis Bay chemical plant this afternoon left residents of several South Baltimore and Anne Arundel County neighborhoods sheltered in place for an hour and a half.
The shelter-in-place order – accompanied by an insistent, shrill noise on city residents’ phones – was due to a leak of chlorosulfonic acid, according to Chief Roman Clark of the Baltimore Fire Department. It happened at the Solvay USA plant in the 2400 block of Fairfield Road.
Chlorosulfonic acid “decomposes on heating on contact with water producing toxic and corrosive fumes,” and “is very corrosive to the eyes, the skin and the respiratory tract,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That put anyone within a one-mile radius of the Solvay plant at risk of bodily harm if they made contact with the vapor.
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
