Around 400 gallons of hazardous materials were spilled Sunday at Costco in Baxter and the driver handling the material suffered minor injuries, it was learned Tuesday.
Brainerd Fire Chief Kevin Stunek said that a driver with The Lubrizol Corporation in Ohio, a company that is contracted with Costco, was filling the gas tanks with a fuel additive when it shot the chemicals into the air seven to eight feet and he “was caught in a shower.” Stunek said the driver was treated for chemical decontamination on scene.
The Brainerd Fire Department responded to the call at 12:53 p.m. at Costco on 13650 Elder Drive in Baxter, which has not yet opened.
Stunek said around 10 firefighters were busy cleaning up the spill and they were on scene until around 8 p.m. Sunday.
“The site is safe and there is no danger to the public,” said Stunek on the spill. “The MPCA (Minnesota Pollution Control Agency) has been called numerous times.”
The MPCA Brainerd office is investigating the spill, but no one was available Tuesday to provide specific details on the spill. The MPCA investigates any spill that is more than five gallons.
Calls were made to Costco, but were not immediately returned.
JENNIFER STOCKINGER may be reached at jennifer.stockinger@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5851. Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jennewsgirl.
Comments (8)
Add commentIf that happened at
Wal Mart the libs would be rioting at their front door.
Huh? What?
You can find a political slant to this story?
Just FYI, most libs do not shop at WalMart, but most cons do. Cons like to ship jobs to China, so they shop at WalMart to get those Chinese goods.
Fair and Balanced
Seriously?? I wonder about people like you but only for a fraction of a second.
Stiffle
yourself, Edith!
Local MPCA Office is right across the Intersection from Costco
Sorry to hear someone was injured.
When I drove past on Monday AM it seemed something was up at the Costco fuel station, lots of people & assorted vehicles including big parked tanker rig.
Evaporation probably took care of some stuff spilled as it likely spread rapidly on a hard surface.
400 gallons is great deal more than the original report of a 5 gallon spill.
400 or 5
I think it would be good to see them explain why it went from 5 to 400 gallons. It seems kind of inept and/or shady of them to just report a different amount and not address why it changed so much.
Which is accurate?
"It was reported that more than five gallons of Ethyl nitrate spilled near the gas tanks of the new Costco store that was not yet opened. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is investigating the spill." From 10/15 article.
http://brainerddispatch.com/news/2012-10-15/hazardous-material-spill-costco
"Around 400 gallons of hazardous materials were spilled Sunday at Costco in Baxter and the driver handling the material suffered minor injuries, it was learned Tuesday." From 10/16 article.
http://brainerddispatch.com/news/2012-10-16/around-400-gallons-spill-cos...
Rolf?
Awesome work from a reporter.
"treated for decontamination"......think about that for a second.