Priest River chlorine leak prompts evacuation
PRIEST RIVER — The discovery of a leaking valve on a 150-pound chlorine gas tank at the city’s water treatment plant forced the evacuation of the city’s entire five-block downtown Tuesday.
Water treatment plant personnel removed the chlorine cylinder from the site and emergency personnel established a 300-foot quarantine zone, said Priest River Mayor Jim Martin.
The evacuation of the downtown area was prompted, in part, by increased wind speed. Once conditions dissipated, and a lack of rain, gave hazardous materials teams the upper hand.
Had the cylinder not been removed from the plant a warning alarm would have continued to sound until eventually prompting the system to shut down all water service systems to the city, Martin said.
Rain posed the most dangerous problem, because when combined with chlorine gas, it forms highly-corrosive hydrochloric acid.
“The situation could have been very serious, so we stayed on the side of caution,” Martin said.
Martin said between 100 to 150 people were evacuated from the downtown area and transported to an emergency shelter at the Priest River Lamanna High School. The residents and business patrons were allowed to return to the downtown area around 9 p.m.
Hazmat crews won’t be able to determine the amount of chlorine which leaked into the atmosphere until they conclude their repairs.
Back-up tanks were available at the water treatment site and were immediately put into place. After repairing the faulty chlorine tank, the cylinder will be transported back to the manufacturer at Tacoma, Martin said.
Three water facility treatment plant operators showed no symptoms or ill affect from the leaky gas but were transported to the hospital for a full evaluation.
The Priest River Police Department, Bonner County Sheriff’s Office, Idaho State Police, Bonner County EMS, and West Pend Oreille Fire Department were on the scene for nearly five hours, leaving at 8:45 p.m. Sandpoint and Coeur d’ Alene hazmat teams also were on scene.