On February 23, 2007, the Region 5 Emergency Response Branch responded to a request for assistance from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) to collect samples of an unknown material in the basement of a private residence located on St. Charles Street, Elgin, Illinois. The resident had called the Elgin Fire Department when she found an irritating liquid on her basement floor. The fire department HAZMAT team took one or two steps into the basement and promptly felt extreme mucous membrane irritation and began coughing. They then retreated, donned an SCBA, and reentered the basement. The fire department found puddles of liquid on the floor and in the seam between the limestone wall and concrete floor. A pH strip found the liquid to be acidic and a HAZMAT ID tentatively identified the chemical as chloroacetaldehyde, which the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) thought unlikely.
U.S. EPA mobilized the Superfund Technical Assistance and Response Team (START) contractor to initiate air monitoring with a MultiRae plus and ToxiRae monitors for chlorine gas, ammonia, phosphine and hydrogen cyanide (HCN). Elevated levels of carbon monoxide, HCN, and phosphine were detected. Two samples were collected to identify the unknown material and to try to determine its source. U.S. EPA, in consultation with ATSDR, IDPH, and the Elgin fire department, will determine what additional actions are necessary upon receipt of the analytical results.
