TIMET didn’t tell fire officials of chlorine leak

Wednesday, Oct. 16, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

A chlorine leak at the TIMET plant near Henderson sent 10 students at a nearby middle school home sick and left fire officials questioning why they weren't notified about the accident as required by federal law.

Titanium Metals Corp., which was cited for safety violations in connection with a worker's death in January 1995, did not notify the fire department when the leak happened about 7:20 a.m. Tuesday, officials said.

"We found out when the school district called and complained at Burkholder Middle School," said Mike Cyphers, a Clark County Fire Department chemical engineer. "They stated that they were smelling chlorine and to get out there and investigate."

Officials may issue a misdemeanor citation for not notifying the fire department after 26 pounds of chlorine was released into the atmosphere, Cyphers said today.

"Twenty-six pounds is a sizable release," Cyphers said. "I'm pretty sure that federal reportable releases are 10 pounds or more."

Titanium dioxide was also released over a three-hour period, but it's not considered hazardous, Cyphers said.

"If they're cited it would be for failure to notify us of the release of hazardous material," Cyphers said. "It would be a misdemeanor citation via the Uniform Fire Code."

TIMET did not offer any immediate explanation for its failure to contact the fire department.

"We're not exactly sure what did happen other than there may have been some back pressure created by this pump failure which forced some untreated tetrachloride to go through our scrubbing facilities and that could have released into the atmosphere," said Brent Peterson, a TIMET official.

TIMET officials were expected to fax a report to investigators today, "then we'll decide if they'll be cited," Cyphers said.