Incident in Forge Park triggers massive use of hazardous substances

A routine day at Dynisco, a Franklin Group manufacturer of instruments and analytical equipment for testing the physical, mechanical and thermal properties of polymers, went terribly wrong from the start.

At 8:56 a.m., the Franklin Fire Department received a fire alarm from the company building at 38 Forge Parkway. The first fire units to arrive were notified by the building’s occupants of a small chemical fire that extinguished itself and a chemical leak.

After consulting with an on-site chemist, fire crews investigated the situation and determined that smoke or steam was present in a process room at the facility. The building was then completely evacuated and the Massachusetts Fire Department was requested to assist with Level 2 hazardous materials containment.

Level 2 hazardous substances are chemicals for which OSHA requires a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) to be available on-site.

However, when the hazardous materials team arrived, a Level 3 response was requested, with 45 hazardous materials technicians on site.

Level 3 hazardous materials are long-term operations that may result in the release of large quantities of hazardous materials that exceed the capabilities of a single state or regional response team.

The hazardous materials team then planned an entry to isolate the material in question. The Franklin Fire Department initially identified the material as a small amount of pyrophoric liquid metal “used in the manufacture of electrical equipment.” In an early warning, New England Fire News described the leaking substances as “sodium potassium.” This description was later confirmed. Pyrophoric substances ignite spontaneously in air and often react with water as well. They ignite when they come into contact with water or moist air.

In this case, according to the department, there were no injuries and there was no danger to the public. The situation was under control by 2:00 p.m. and all units had left the scene by 3:30 p.m.