Abigail Ham
The Keene Sentinel, N.H.
(TNS)
Keene firefighters on Wednesday morning safely removed a smoking drum of chemical waste from the Markem-Imaje Corp. plant on Keene’s southeast side.
Emergency personnel responded to the facility at 150 Congress St. around 9:25 a.m., and mitigated the haz-mat incident by roughly 10:15 a.m., Keene Fire Marshal Richard Wood said at the scene.
Wood said the 50-gallon drum was only about 10 to 20 percent full. Fire Department haz-mat technicians donned protective equipment to assess the scene and remove the drum from the building, according to a news release from the department Wednesday afternoon.
The haz-mat team worked with Markem chemists to identify the materials in the drum, which was kept outdoors and will be removed from the site by a cleanup management company, according to the release.
The drum likely contained a mixture of chemicals including ethyl acetate, a solvent used in the industrial ink manufacturing process, Keene Fire personnel said Wednesday afternoon.
No injuries or property damage were reported.
Keene fire officials noted that this was a “waste” drum that could have contained multiple different chemicals.
“This is a normal and industry-approved process that experienced an unexpected issue today,” the release said. “There will be an ongoing evaluation by Markem-Imaje staff of their internal safety and management policies.”This story has been updated with additional information from the Keene Fire Department.
___
(c)2024 The Keene Sentinel (Keene, N.H.)
Visit The Keene Sentinel (Keene, N.H.) at www.sentinelsource.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
