Acid Spill Leads To Mass Evacuation Of A Factory In Columbus

Source: PHOTO: (Thinkstock/Bluraz)

COLUMBUS, Ind. — An acid spill in Columbus made for a tense situation for firefighters on Thursday.

Shortly before 10:00 Thursday morning firefighters and hazmat workers were called to Rightway Fasteners. They make bolts for the auto and shipping industries. They all arrived to find a spill of Picric Acid, which, if mishandled, can be a highly explosive acid.

Picric Acid is typically used in the making of explosives, matches, and electric batteries.

They called in the bomb squad as police evacuated some 200 factory workers inside the building.

It was discovered that the acid was leaking from its container and crystalizing in a chemical storage cabinet. Over the course of five hours, the bomb squad and hazmat workers decided the best course of action was to destroy the spilled acid.

The whole storage cabinet was removed from the building and taken to where an excavator had dug a deep hole where the acid was safely burned using road flares police had on site.

After the controlled burn was completed, employees were allowed back into the building to collect personal effects.