1 Hospitalized, 25 Evacuated In HazMat Incident: Santa Rosa FD

SANTA ROSA, CA — One person was hospitalized and at least 25 people were evacuated in a hazardous materials incident involving a "strong liquid acid" Wednesday at a business in southwest Santa Rosa, an official with the Santa Rosa Fire Department said. Firefighters first responded at about 12:33 p.m. Wednesday to the commercial building at 1201 Corporate Center Parkway, SRFD Battalion Chief Matt Dahl said.

"When the first unit arrived, they discovered a 55-gallon drum that was actively leaking inside the truck loading bay of a commercial building," Dahl said. "Several gallons had already escaped the container."

Firefighters were told that prior to their arrival, an employee had been transported to a hospital for treatment of unknown injuries.

Fire personnel — 22 in total — moved quickly to evacuate an estimated 25 people from nearby businesses and called for a full hazardous materials emergency response as they began to isolate the spill, the battalion chief said.

Testing by the Santa Rosa Fire Department Hazardous Materials Response Team revealed the material was "a strong liquid acid that was consuming the container that it had been stored in," Dahl said.

"Firefighters in full protective equipment and air packs made multiple entries into the building to test, contain and neutralize the material," Dahl said. "Once the incident was stabilized and the leak was mitigated, the property was released to the on-scene business representative for final clean-up."

The incident remained under investigation Thursday by the Santa Rosa fire and police departments.

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