Chemical Incident Sends 3 Nashua Amazon Employees To The Hospital

NASHUA, NH — The Nashua Fire Marshal's and OSHA are investigating how three people became injured during a hazmat incident Thursday at the city's Amazon fulfillment center on State Street. Around 6 a.m., Nashua firefighters and its special hazards team were sent to the building for a possible chemical incident involving cleaning solutions that may have been improperly mixed. Merrimack also sent an ambulance to the city to assist with mutual aid.

When firefighters arrived, they found one person who was "experiencing symptoms in the building" but the building had not yet been evacuated. Firefighters ordered the building evacuated while driving to the scene and later, had to make a "rapid entry" into the building to gain access to the patient that was still inside, according to Deputy Fire Chief Karl Gerhard.

"The patient’s chief complaint was breathing difficulty and lowered responsiveness," Gerhard said. "The patient was decontaminated and brought to an AMR ambulance for treatment and transport."

Two other patients also reported having respiratory symptoms. Merrimack EMTs and AMR provided treatment to those employees and took them to Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua. Gerhard said one of the patients remains hospitalized while two others were treated and discharged from the hospital.

Firefighters continued to investigate the incident and were able to identify one of the substances used. Other substances were unable to be determined "due to the facility's attempt to de-escalate the reaction," Gerhard said.

The department ventilated the building and used air and chemical metering to monitor air quality in the building and found no abnormal readings. OSHA will be onsite later Thursday to investigate the incident with the city's fire marshal.

"Businesses need to regularly update material safety data sheets for chemical products used on site," Gerhard added in a press statement. "This information needs to be readily accessible in the event of a related emergency and given to responders. Having this information readily accessible will assist responders in providing the best care for injured personnel."

The Nashua Amazon fulfillment center is the first "delivery station" established in the state of New Hampshire. It opened in July 2019.

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