MI Crews Stop Sulfuric Acid Spill from Turning Deadly

MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, MI—Training, teamwork and quick response prevented an acid spill at a Muskegon Heights company from becoming a community threat.

That’s according to Muskegon Heights Fire Chief Christopher Dean, who oversaw the cleanup of 90 gallons of spilled sulfuric acid at Quality Plating Monday morning.

The highly corrosive and toxic acid leaked onto the ground after a bulk transport container fell from a forklift outside the plant at 2712 McIlwraith, Dean said.

The storage container held 220 gallons of the 93 percent pure sulfuric acid that posed “significant health and safety risks,” he said.

Muskegon Heights firefighters responding to the call just before 10 a.m. Dec. 30 quickly took measures to isolate the spill with absorbent material, preventing it from entering storm drains, Dean said. Neutralizing material was spread on the spilled acid, he said.

The Muskegon County Hazardous Materials Response Team was summoned to the scene as was Webb Chemical, a Muskegon Heights company that has teamed up with firefighters for training on multiple occasions, Dean said. Webb also was the company that shipped the sulfuric acid to Quality Plating, he said.

Webb provided another shipping container as well as a specialized acid pump to transfer the acid from the damaged container, Dean said.

“They’ve always been a really good partner to the community,” he said. “Webb goes above and beyond constantly.”

The sulfuric acid, three times more concentrated than battery acid, can severely burn skin and its vapors can damage the human respiratory system in an enclosed space, he said.

The 90 gallons of sulfuric acid would have required 27 million gallons of water to make it safe to send to the wastewater treatment plant, and more than 100 million gallons of water to neutralize it, Dean said.

“Ninety gallons of it would cause a lot of environmental damage” if it got into the storm drains, he said.

The spill was reported to state and federal authorities, Dean said.

Firefighters and the Hazmat team remained on the scene for four hours, Dean said.

Quality Plating hired Youngs Environmental Cleanup of Walker to do further remediation, said Scott Werschem, owner of Quality Plating. The firm was on scene for four to five hours Monday and was back on site Tuesday morning, Dec. 31, Werschem said.

“It should never have happened,” Werschem said of the spill. “It was an unfortunate accident.”

The acid is used as part of the process for treating waste created by the plating process, Werschem said.

“I’d like to thank everybody that was involved” in the cleanup, he said.

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