Methane Gas in Pit Kills Five on Farm

BRIDGEWATER, Va. (July 3) - Deadly methane gas emanating from a dairy farm's manure pit killed five people - a Mennonite farmer who climbed into the pit to unclog a pipe, and then, in frantic rescue attempts that failed, his wife, two young daughters and a farmhand.

They all climbed into the pit to help," Sheriff Donald Farley said. "Before they hit the floor, they were probably all dead."

Farmers typically take pains to ventilate manure pits where methane often gathers. A family member questioned whether cattle feed could have trickled into the pit and accelerated the formation of the gas.

"You cannot smell it, you cannot see it, but it's an instant kill," explained Dan Brubaker, a family friend who oversaw the construction of the pit decades earlier.

Scott Showalter, 34, apparently was transferring manure from one small pit to a larger holding pond on Monday evening, the sheriff said.

About once a week, waste is pumped from the roughly 9-foot-deep pit into a larger pond. When something clogged the drain, Showalter shimmied through the 4-foot opening into the enclosure, which is similar to an underground tank. He would have climbed down a ladder into about 18 inches of manure.

"It was probably something he had done a hundred times," Farley said. "There was gas in there and he immediately succumbed."

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Fire at plastic recycling company produces thick, potentially toxic smoke, closes freeway interchange

Fire at plastic recycling company produces thick, potentially toxic smoke, closes freeway interchange | Inland News | PE.com | Southern California News | News for Inland Southern California

A fire at a Riverside plastic recycling company sent a giant plume of toxic, black smoke into the air Tuesday afternoon that could be seen for miles, prompting a health advisory and forcing the closure of a major Inland freeway interchange during rush hour.

Flames broke out in a storage yard about 4:40 p.m. at Unlimited Plastics Inc. in the 2600 block of Durahart Street and spread across an acre of wooden pallets, heaps of cardboard boxes and piles of plastic, authorities said. Thick, black smoke engulfed a section of Interstate 215 and spread east to Yucaipa and Banning.

In a written statement issued Tuesday night, Riverside County Health Officer Dr. Eric Frykman advised residents in smoky areas to stay indoors, use the "air recirculation" function on their air conditioner and to limit their outdoor activity...

Emissions from burning plastic contain toxic gases and substances, including carbon monoxide and carcinogenic soot, that create the black color of the smoke, said Jean Ospital, the health effects officer for the South Coast Air Quality District.

Depending on the type of plastics burning, the smoke may also contain toxic formaldehyde, benzene, dioxins and other dangerous compounds...

At Tuesday night's City Council meeting, Planning Commission Chairman Finn Comer finished up an annual report on the commission's work with unplanned remarks about the fire. He cited a previous fire at the location and said city code enforcement officials should have been monitoring the operation more closely.

"It needed to clean up a long time ago," Comer said.

Carl Cranor, a UCR philosophy professor who lectures on risk assessment in the Environmental Toxicology Department, said that fallout from the fire may show up as dust in homes.

"Once the fire is out, it's going to be a long time and a scientific problem to figure out if there were any severe diseases caused by it," Cranor said.

Chemical Fire Sends People Fleeing

MyFox Memphis | Chemical Fire Sends People Fleeing
MyFox Memphis | Chemical Fire Sends People Fleeing
Employees and neighbors were terrified when this occupancy caught on fire...

Employees said a tanker unloading the chemical resin spilled and sparked the fire. Resin is used to make tubs and counter tops. However, fire investigators have not officially confirmed the cause of the fire.

Workers inside Lawrence Tile say hallways were filled with smoke and there was a lot of confusion. None of the workers were injured.

Lawrence Tile and Marble is at the end of a road mainly occupied by businesses. While many companies were not officially evacuated, the fear of a chemical explosion sent people running.

England Fireworks Factory Explosion

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mythbusters diet coke and mentos scene + more

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