WESTMINSTER : Potential Explosive Triggers Evacuation

Nine homes were evacuated for almost three hours Tuesday morning when officials discovered a potentially explosive chemical stored in a garage.

The chemical, a mixture of potassium chloride and sodium azide, had been sitting in a 5-gallon drum in the garage of a Manor Drive home for the past 13 years, Fire Department Capt. Jim Schlager said.

The owner of the house, Paul McGuire, did not know what the chemical was or that it was dangerous, Schlager said.

The liquid chemical is normally used in medicine as a diluent in blood cell counting, and is considered poisonous and dangerous to the touch, officials said. If spilled, it could pose environmental dangers.

And if the chemical compound dries to a crystal state, fire officials said, it acquires an explosive quality.

“Basically, if you walk by it and kick it (when it’s crystallized), it’ll explode,” Fire Department Battalion Chief Allan White said. An explosion could have destroyed the garage, Schlager said.

The chemical was removed from the small yellow and white house in the 1300 block of Manor Drive in the northern part of the city by a hazardous materials crew without incident, Schlager said. There were no injuries.

Fire dispatchers received a call at 10:03 a.m. from McGuire’s son, who was looking through his father’s garage and noticed that the cardboard covering the 5-gallon can was deteriorating badly.

“He wanted to know how he could get rid of it,” Schlager said. The chemical was apparently left by previous occupants when McGuire bought the house in 1973.

About 40 firefighters, hazardous waste experts, sheriff’s bomb squad members and county health officials arrived at the scene, evacuated surrounding houses and closed off a block of the residential street near Beach and Westminster boulevards.

The drum was removed at about 1 p.m., Schlager said, adding that McGuire may face a $15,000 bill to pay for the response.

Schlager said that if anyone suspects that a chemical is dangerous or sees someone illegally storing hazardous materials, he or she should call environmental health hazard officials at (714) 834-8274.