Minor chemical spill closes Interstate 15 after accident

Jace Radke and Cheryl Miller

Tuesday, Aug. 10, 1999 | 10:03 a.m.

An accident involving a tractor-trailer carrying 5,000 gallons of a liquid chemical shut down Interstate 15 near the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for more than four hours Monday night.

The accident occurred about 9:45 p.m. a quarter mile north of the Hollywood Boulevard exit on northbound I-15, authorities said.

The tractor-trailer was traveling northbound on I-15 when it was hit by a pickup, causing the trailer to overturn into the center median. A Nevada Highway Patrol trooper at the scene reported seeing a liquid substance leaking from the trailer.

The freeway was shut down in both directions from the Lamb Boulevard exit in the south and the Apex Drive exit to the north by the NHP, Metro Police and the Clark County Fire Department. A quarter-mile "hot zone" was created around the spill, and traffic was rerouted from I-15 to Las Vegas Boulevard.

A hazardous materials crew, which had to fight I-15 traffic to get to the site, determined that only about a gallon of the chemical had escaped from a pressure-release valve, Clark County Fire Department spokesman Steve La-Sky said.

The truck was carrying sodium azide, a toxic chemical used in automobile airbags and as a preservative in clinical laboratories. In this case, the chemical was a liquid waste byproduct, LaSky said.

Sodium azide is poisonous and can be fatal if absorbed through the skin or ingested and irritates the throat and eyes, according to the American Chemical Society.

The chemical can also become explosive if it is heated near temperatures of 300 degrees Celsius or if it is allowed to react with lead or copper.

The fire department evacuated six people from a warehouses in the speedway complex.