A pair of Georgia highway emergency personnel were hospitalized this week after exposure to a concrete-hardening chemical containing sulfuric acid.
The incident happened Thursday on Interstate 285 in Atlanta when two 250-gallon containers of the chemical overturned. Before the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department’s team arrived at 5 p.m., two members of Georgia’s Highway Emergency Response Operators were exposed to the hardening agent.
One of them walked through a contaminated area while the other smelled and touched the chemical, the AFRD said in a release while not adding how the spill happened.
Sulfuric acid, used to make chemicals, glue, lead car batteries and explosives and to refine petroleum and cure metal, is a corrosive substance that can harm the skin, eyes, teeth and lungs, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The AFRD decontaminated the two unnamed HERO personnel and took them to the hospital.
Officials didn’t say how badly the two were hurt by the acid, but they were released from the hospital, according to WANF, Atlanta‘s CBS affiliate.
Northbound traffic on I-285 was shut down as the hardening agent was cleaned up. The Atlanta-Fulton County Emergency Management Agency declared on X just before 2 a.m. Friday that the road was reopened.
𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝘀, 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝘆𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 & 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘆: www.washingtontimes.com
𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗠𝗖𝗔,
𝗣𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗮𝘁 dmca@enspirers.com