Round Hill, SC (Paul Kirby) – Several parts of Lexington County’s Hazardous Materials Team were mobilized Tuesday evening after some sort of suspected chemical or other fluid was leaking from a tractor-trailer truck near the off ramp of Longs Pond Road and I-20. At times, while the fluid leak was being dealt with, that ramp was shutdown.
The county’s hazardous materials resources are mainly housed and staffed by specially trained firefighters at the Round Hill Fire Station. This is located on Two Notch Road and is close to where this spill occurred. Several trucks there carry the bulk of the materials and equipment that haz-mat technicians rely on when dealing with a solid, liquid, or gas materials that may be dangerous to handle in normal fire turnout gear. More of these haz-mat trained personnel can respond from across the county if needed to back up or relieve the first due team. Another truck is stationed in a different portion of the county that is equipped to decontaminate the technicians if they become exposed to anything hazardous. It is not imperative that truck arrive as quickly because its equipment is normally set up last and used after technicians have been in close proximity or have come in contact with the material to identify a problem or what material spilled or leaked.
The fire service stayed on the scene of the spill until after 9:30 p.m. last night. At that point, they turned the scene over to a private company to mitigate the cleanup. This is normally paid for by the person who spilled the material.
