Incident Report

Subject:           US - Two Rescued after East Providence Ethanol Spill

Date of Email report:   Tue 22/04/2014

Report Detail:

Two people had to be rescued from an industrial building after a chemical spill Saturday morning. East Providence Fire Department officials say their units responded to Aspen Aerogels. Two workers were in a lift working on a storage tank when somehow the tank spilled about 210 gallons of ethanol onto the floor. The two workers immediately powered down the lift because of the fire hazard but were left suspended above the spill, unable to get down. Firefighters entered the facility and used foam on the spill, then got the two workers down with a ladder. They were checked out by rescue personnel and were unhurt.  According to Aspen Aerogel’s website, “Aspen Aerogels is an energy efficiency company that designs, develops and manufactures innovative, high-performance aerogel insulation.”

Fire officials said the ethanol is used during the company’s manufacturing process.  Fire crews cleared the facility about two hours after they arrived.

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