Fumes from Home Depot chemical spill in Freeport sicken 13

A pallet of home cleaning chemical products fell 20 feet from a forklift and broke open in a customer aisle of a Freeport Home Depot on Wednesday afternoon, sickening 13 people, including 10 sent to the hospital after inhaling fumes, and temporarily closing the store, officials said.

No one was seriously injured, though the store on Sunrise Highway was evacuated, said Michael Uttaro, Nassau County’s chief fire marshal.

The chemical spill at 1:44 p.m. involved bottles of chlorine bleach and vinegar, Uttaro said.

Late Wednesday afternoon, a Nassau County hazmat crew had finished cleanup efforts inside the store, according to hazmat specialist Michael Mennella.

Store workers "were operating a forklift," Mennella said, "and they were either putting them on or taking them off a shelf, and the pallet slipped."

He said officials informed the Home Depot manager just after 5 p.m. that the cleaning had been completed. The store remained closed to customers, and authorities did not immediately say when it would reopen.

The mix of spilled chemicals had apparently caused a reaction and made people "sick" from the odors and vapors, Uttaro said in a department news release. The fumes irritated people’s throats and airways, he told Newsday. Those affected included customers and employees.

"It fell from an elevated position, and when it hit the floor, the containers broke open, mixed and caused this reaction," Uttaro said in an interview.

Officials did not immediately know why the pallet apparently broke free before crashing down on the customer aisle. Information about the specific chemicals and the types of containers was not immediately available.

A Home Depot representative was not immediately available for comment Wednesday afternoon.

Six people were taken to Mount Sinai South Nassau hospital in Oceanside, and four were taken to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, all for evaluation, officials said. Three people at the scene declined additional treatment.

"The chemical spill is contained," Uttaro said in the release. "The situation is under control and there is no further threat to the public or the environment."

"It had the potential" to create a larger problem, he told Newsday, "but thankfully the store notified the first responders quickly, they contained it, they evacuated the store, and thankfully it wasn’t worse."

About a dozen employees were there, too, sitting in lawn chairs from the outdoor nursery and passing out water bottles. Late Wednesday afternoon, several police and fire marshal vehicles remained in the Home Depot parking lot.

Police officers blocked off the parking lot entrance from Sunrise Highway. They also blocked the customers' entran ce to about 30 yards away from the doors along the length of the building.

The Freeport Fire Department had responded to the scene and requested help from the Nassau County fire marshal's hazardous materials response team.

That team was "on scene operating in protective suits and on air, working to identify the chemicals (household cleaning type chemicals) and assist in the clean up to ensure the building is safe for workers to re-enter," the statement said.

The Freeport Fire Department was assisted by eight mutual aid fire department ambulances. A total of about 40 firefighters responded to the spill, the statement said.