Chlorine canister leak sends three to hospital, diverts traffic
By SHANNON TAN
Published April 10, 2004
CLEARWATER - Traffic on busy Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard was diverted for nearly two hours Friday afternoon after a chlorine leak sent two police officers and a driver to a hospital. Authorities evacuated a nearby restaurant.
More than 20 emergency units responded to the incident, which occurred while DPC Enterprises employee Larry Wood, 47, was transporting a 150-pound pressurized canister of chlorine from Morningside Recreation Complex to his Gibsonton office, Clearwater Sgt. Doug Griffith said.
The container had a potential leak, but Wood told officials it wasn't leaking when he picked it up.
As he drove west on Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard about 1:35 p.m., Wood heard a pop, Griffith said. Gas was leaking from the canister. Wood pulled into a grassy lot next to Clancy's Steakhouse and Irish Pub.
A police officer who was driving behind Wood's red pickup, another officer and the driver of a passing car were taken to a local hospital. One officer was treated and released, Griffith said.
"It was nothing serious," he said.
Fewer than a hundred people were evacuated from Clancy's, Griffith said. Westbound and eastbound lanes of Gulf-to-Bay between Belcher Road and U.S. 19 and portions of Old Coachman Road were shut down for about two hours as Clearwater and Largo firefighters and the Pinellas County hazardous materials team contained the leak.
By 3:45 p.m., Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard and Old Coachman Road were reopened to traffic.
If Wood had continued driving, chlorine might have leaked onto the road, Griffith said, which could have been harmless or could have caused "a whole line of seriously injured people."
By the time firefighters arrived, most of the chlorine had leaked out of the container, Griffith said. Clearwater police and the Florida Department of Transportation's law enforcement division are investigating. Wood could be issued a citation.
Wood declined to comment Friday afternoon as he paced up and down the sidewalk and talked on his cell phone at the scene.
"I can't say anything right now," Wood said as he lit a cigarette.
Jean Paul Blanco, store manager at the nearby Shell gas station, said Wood came in to get a soda and a pack of cigarettes after pulling his truck over.
"He told me he inhaled some of the chlorine, but he seemed okay to me," Blanco said.
Blanco praised firefighters and the hazmat team for handling the situation well.
"It put a damper on business," he said. "But we'd much rather give up business than have more of an accident."
