GARNETT — For the second time in less than three weeks, Garnett officials had to contend with a product spill on city streets.
This time, the product was quickly identified as wet distillers grain that had spilled from a truck at the intersection of Seventh and Maple streets shortly before 8:30 p.m. Friday.
The trucking company was identified within 15 minutes of the call.
The product was not hazardous, but still posed a potential danger because of the slick road surface, Garnett Fire Chief Wesley Skillman noted in a Facebook post.
Firefighters used shovels and brooms to clean up the grain. City street workers also provided a street sweeper.
A fine rock was also spread at the spill site to aid in traction.
THE SPILL came after the mysterious New Year’s Eve chemical spill from an unknown truck, starting at the intersection of Park and Maple, and proceeding south through town and then east to U.S. 169 — a stretch of more than two miles.
Investigators obtained images from business security cameras along the route, but those failed to show a company name or identifying marking of the white box truck, and a license plate was not visible in the footage, the Woodson County Department of Emergency Management reported.
Kellen Ashford, a spokesperson for the Environmental Protection Agency said, testing revealed the material as an “inorganic, strongly basic, sodium-based compound with a pH of 14 that is very caustic.”
Substances with a pH of 12.5 or greater are considered hazardous substances.
The compound is classified as a reactive chemical, Ashford explained, which makes it difficult to fully identify because of various chemical changes when exposed to the elements.
Further identification, such as a trade name, would likely require the chemical container or safety data sheet, Ashford said. And the only way to secure those is to identify the party responsible for the spill, which is still part of an ongoing investigation.
Scores of vehicles were subsequently exposed to the spilled chemical, leaving a residue on their respective vehicles.
The EPA treated 266 cars in the days following the spill. The caustic material was neutralized with warm, soapy water and a water/vinegar solution.
Air and water monitoring showed no additional hazards from the spill after it was cleared.
