Hazardous Cargo

[The Stig]

What sort of hazardous cargo/freight moves through/in/near or over your home?

Do you know?

Where or how could you find out?

What is the level of the threat? (ie there's a chemical processing plant next door vs you live on the top of a mountain 37 miles from anywhere)

[bacpacker]

We live about 5 or so miles from the airport which has a ANG base attached. They fly KC-135's out of there. When they are doing touch and goes we are in the flight pattern depending on wind direction ans which way they turn. Jet fuel is probably our most likely. There are train tracks within 8 miles or so and as everyone knows, anything and everything arve hauled on those.

[Sniper-T]

Everything. The TransCanada Highway is 3 miles away, so anything that can be loaded into a truck, is there.
Further, the TransCanada Railway is 4 miles away. Anything that can be loaded on a train, is there.

*sigh*

[Baker]

I'm good on that, since I like in the middle of nowhere. Nearest town is a few miles away, no where near any air/sea ports, highways, railways, none of that.

[Sniper-T]

holy shit!!! Another Canadian!!! Woohoo

Welcome to the board Baker!

[Kodiak]

I dont have any major airports or highways close, Dayton airport is about 30 miles away, so i think im ok in regards to hazardous materials from those two routes. There are a few railroad tracks but i think they are at least 5-10 miles away, so hopefully we'll be ok from those as well. Unfortunately one never knows when a load of hazmat will randomly travel near your home for whatever reason, all we can do is cross our fingers and hope for the best.

[helomech]

There is a plant about 5 miles from me, not sure what they produce but I don't think it is to bad. I am way uphill from them, and also upwind of the prevailing winds.

[Baker]

holy shit!!! Another Canadian!!! Woohoo

Welcome to the board Baker!

Lol thanks mate!

[tompnoid]

i am 20 miles from three mile island and trains run like 2 miles from the house but to be honest not alot of hazmat on those they have to be placarded if it carries more then 1000lbs of any hazardous substance like such as if it carried smoke detectors. thought the amount of radiated matierial is very small maybe a few lbs of actual substance the rest is considered towards weight. and all train shipments must be placarded if hazmat is over 1000lbs in reality there is very little transported that if it gets into the air will really be hazarous to you worst would be say chlorine and once disipated past 100 ppm which will happen in 2 minutes of being exposed to air most it could cause would be nose bleeds and nausea it may polute the ground water but no more then is already in regular city water. unless it hits you directly which will kill you peel your skin right off nothing to worry about.

i work in shipping in paticualr international air transport and ship hazmat all the time just did a shipment like 5 min ago corrosive will be placarded. filling for teeth contains small parts of mercury. mostly just silver and aluminum like 1/1000th part mercury but whole shipment is considered hazmat.

so do not worry abotu chemical contamination

[ak474u]

I live 135 ft from the slow lane of an 8 lane tollway, and 500 ft from an intersecting 8 lane tollway. HC routes are several miles away, but local hazmat and fuel are carried over the tollways as well. Oh, and a train line that I'm pretty sure is a dedicated UPS spur, all that goes by is piggy back cars with UPS trailers, and very few like 6 or 7 of those a few times a day.

[Gearhead]

About a mile from a major highway and a few hundred miles from the Savannah River Site. Locals think they make bombs. The government tells us its a "Nuclear Facility."

Sent from my BRODEVICE using MobileBro2

[bacpacker]

Tom I would have to disagree with you, assuming I correctly understand what you were saying. I may well be misunderstanding you, pardon me if that's the case.

We had a train wreck back in 2002 that was probably 4-5 miles (est) away from us across the river. Our Emcomm group was helping out with a 400 person bike ride that day and got notice it had happened and that athourities were evacuating a 3 mile radius. The train had a car that was carrying hydrocloric acid that had ruptured. Luckily the winds were pushing the cloud back toward the river (toward us, we are 1 1/2 miles from the river) and it mostly settled on the river. Later that night we got notice that they were beginning to evacuate folks on our side of the river. It never got more than .5 mile from us, but we had packed up a bunch of stuff and were ready to head out on short notice.

Train wrecks (trucks as well) are nothing to sneeze at. It may end up being nothing, but I don't intend to stick around to see.

[tompnoid]

We move this from time to time as well it is part of the dental thing too. Potential Acute Health Effects:
Very hazardous in case of skin contact (corrosive, irritant, permeator), of eye contact (irritant, corrosive), of ingestion, . Slightly
hazardous in case of inhalation (lung sensitizer). Non-corrosive for lungs. Liquid or spray mist may produce tissue damage
particularly on mucous membranes of eyes, mouth and respiratory tract. Skin contact may produce burns. Inhalation of the
spray mist may produce severe irritation of respiratory tract, characterized by coughing, choking, or shortness of breath.
Severe over-exposure can result in death. Inflammation of the eye is characterized by redness, watering, and itching. Skin
inflammation is characterized by itching, scaling, reddening, or, occasionally, blistering.
Potential Chronic Health Effects:
Slightly hazardous in case of skin contact (sensitizer). CARCINOGENIC EFFECTS:


this is the official msds a cloud of it would not affect you it would have to be direct contact the municipalities over react to alot of things. take it from a guy who has worked his whole life in industrial settings like steel mills pressing plants ect most things they say are bs

[bacpacker]

There were quite a few folks who had a lot of those symptoms after the wreck. I don't think anyone died, but several spent some time in the hospital.

GH, Savannah River does produce Tritium, which is used as triggers for nuc's. I'm not sure what else they do there. The plant is a fairly polluted area, has been for years. I haven't heard lately how far along the clean up is going.

[slowz1k]

Around my home none. But working downtown, we have numerous freight trains passing through the yard just 800 meters from my office. One suicide bomber in a van full of ammonium nitrate at the crossing when a tanker or two of chlorine gas happens to be passing by and we'll have a situation.

[The Stig]

I'm not in any major flight paths that I know of.

There are major rail lines within a few miles of Casa Del Stig. There is also a major state highway two miles to the east of us. As has been mentioned who knows what could be zipping past us.

We are virtually surrounded by military and space facilities. Most are 25 to 30 miles from us so it would have to be a super nasty/hazardous item but it's still a very possible issue, especially since we are downwind from most of the bases.

Lastly, Gulfport is 26 miles south of us and has a decent sized port facility. Again, who knows what's going in and out of there.

This issue is a big one for me and one that's substantial part of my prepping.

[ak474u]

I'm not in any major flight paths that I know of.

There are major rail lines within a few miles of Casa Del Stig. There is also a major state highway two miles to the east of us. As has been mentioned who knows what could be zipping past us.

We are virtually surrounded by military and space facilities. Most are 25 to 30 miles from us so it would have to be a super nasty/hazardous item but it's still a very possible issue, especially since we are downwind from most of the bases.

Lastly, Gulfport is 26 miles south of us and has a decent sized port facility. Again, who knows what's going in and out of there.

This issue is a big one for me and one that's substantial part of my prepping.

I saw somewhere that the big LNG tankers are a huge target, and require quite a bit of maritime security ops to make sure nobody gets too close with anything that'll blow them up. I THINK somebody said if one of those got taken out it would be equivalent in blast to a tactical nuke. I've never seen one in Gulfport, but I've seen them at Houston, Galveston, and Corpus Christi. Also saw a MARSEC? R.H.I.B. gun boat zooming around too. It was pretty cool to see that.

[GunnerMax]

everything that you could imagine, I am near.

im screwed

[Sniper-T]

I forgot to mention the work issues. I am about one mile away from the Canadian equivalent to the CDC. and on the wrong side to get home. in there they have everything from Anthrax, to SARS to plague... and everything in between. Something happens to that place, and it'll mess up a lot of peoples days!

[Grumpy Old Man]

I've mentioned before that there are military bases all around me, but none really close. Add the ports of Long Beach, LA and San Diego being about 70 to 85 miles away depending, and the major freeways to the west and north about 15 miles away, so who knows what's traveling close by? Right now I'm more watchful of what is happening with Fukushima as we are downwind of it and I'm not set up for lower range radiation detection.

[bacpacker]

I don't even want to think about work place problems. I'm on a nuclear reservation with at least one functioning reactor and all that goes along with that. Plus tons of various chemicals, boilers, etc. Within 10 miles or less is several other nuclear businesses. I have two interstaes and two substantial rivers to deal with as well, both of which handles large barge traffic , chem, nuc, prolly LNG as well. Lots of good shit around here. Somethings goes real bad i get to ride the blast wave. Shit i dont know how to surf. ;)

[Sniper-T]

...Shit i dont know how to surf. ;)

I got your six, pal!

How to Surf, Learn to Surf (http://www.howtosurf.net/)

[tompnoid]

I don't even want to think about work place problems. I'm on a nuclear reservation with at least one functioning reactor and all that goes along with that. Plus tons of various chemicals, boilers, etc. Within 10 miles or less is several other nuclear businesses. I have two interstaes and two substantial rivers to deal with as well, both of which handles large barge traffic , chem, nuc, prolly LNG as well. Lots of good shit around here. Somethings goes real bad i get to ride the blast wave. Shit i dont know how to surf. ;)

nuclear meltdowns are something very real man and to be honest not a thing we can do about it. as i said i am like 20 miles from TMI thats three mile island they people around that place are real screwed up. guess all you can do is put ya head between ya legs and kiss your ass good bye

[realist]

You would be amazed at what it out there. There are so many different types of chemicals and more being made all the time. The one thing that they can not tell you is what will happen when a bunch of them get mixed together when there is a crash of a truck or a train derailment. This is what I call a mutant environment, not good. The best you can do is try to limit your exposure and know which way the wind blows. BTW LNG is nasty that is why most ports do not allow them to enter.

[Fatty]

anything and everything, railroad tracks 100 ft from my house. Had a derail 1 mile south of me 2 yrs ago, it got me thinking:)

[bacpacker]

In all honesty Train derailments scare me worse than the area I work in does. We have all kinds of rules and procedures that are reviewed very frequently and safety is a top priority. In a train wreck it just is what it is. I'm not even sure they have seperation of cars between chemicals or not. It might not even matter.