Lightning strike hits Dow coatings plant near Philadelphia

16 May 2012 15:45  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS)--A lightning strike early on Wednesday morning hit two storage tanks at a Dow Chemical coatings plant near Philadelphia, causing a fire, the company said.

Dow said the strike, at around 03:35 local time, hit tanks holding ethyl acrylate and butyl acrylate at Bristol near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

On-site emergency response along with local area fire companies responded to safely put out the fire and bring the material under control, the company said in a statement.

Material that escaped the tanks has been contained in surround dykes with no anticipated impact to the community, Dow said.

As a precaution, employees were evacuated.

Dow said that there were no injuries from the incident. However, according to local media reports, a member of the Bristol fire department suffered a heart attack and died shortly afterwards.

By: Stefan Baumgarten
+1 713 525 2653

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