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Hazmat incident in Belleair injures sanitation worker

 
Published March 12, 2013

BELLEAIR — An incident involving hazardous materials sent a Belleair sanitation worker to the hospital and closed a road and a section of the Pinellas Trail in Belleair for almost three hours Tuesday.

Largo division fire chief David Mixson said sanitation workers discovered a fuming substance in a dump truck shortly before noon.

The workers called emergency responders, who blocked off Ponce de Leon Boulevard between Clearwater-Largo Road and Varona Street and the Pinellas Trail from Rosery Road to Ponce de Leon Boulevard.

Firefighters eventually found a bottle of muriatic acid, also known as hydrochloric acid, in the truck. The chemical is sometimes used for household cleaning, including pool cleaning.

A sanitation worker who inhaled some fumes from the substance was hospitalized and was in stable condition Tuesday afternoon, Mixson said.

Ponce de Leon Boulevard and the Pinellas Trail were reopened just before 3 p.m.