A hazardous materials alert was triggered Wednesday in Huntington Beach when an employee of a business apparently mixed up chemicals in a 55-gallon drum, a fire captain said.
The alert started at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday after the worker accidentally mixed chemicals into the drum not realizing it was already filled with other chemicals, Huntington Beach Fire Capt. Steve Teasdale said.
The mixture “started to self-heat,” Teasdale said.
About 50 employees in the business that makes conductors were led out of the building and employees in neighboring businesses sheltered in place, Teasdale said.
Firefighters mitigated the risk and turned the drum back over to the property owner at 12:30 p.m. to hire a hazardous waste company to dispose of it, Teasdale said. The employees were allowed back into the building and no one was injured.