THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 5, 1995 TAG: 9503050060
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
An early morning traffic accident left one man in the hospital and damaged an electrical transformer believed to contain toxins, forcing police and rescue workers to undergo precautionary decontamination Saturday.
Joshua Augusta, 18, was listed in serious but stable condition at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital after the accident, which police said occurred when Augusta's 1991 Pontiac crossed from the eastbound to westbound lanes of East Little Creek Road about 5:30 a.m.
Augusta's car struck the rear of a westbound car before slamming into a Virginia Power transmission pole in the 900 block of East Little Creek, police said.
As police, firefighters and paramedics arrived, a transformer on the pole was ``squirting oil all over the car,'' said Capt. Todd Cannon of the Fire Department's Hazardous Materials team.
By the time a field test showed the oil may have contained polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, 13 officers and rescue workers had walked through the puddled substance, and two others, were thought to be contaminated further.
But, Cannon said, the field tests ``are not foolproof.'' . Lab tests later showed that the oil did not contain PCBs.
The 15 officers, some of whom went off duty and were relieved at the accident scene, were summoned later to Norfolk's 2nd Patrol Division offices, before the lab results were in. Most needed only their shoes cleaned with a solvent cleaner, police spokesman Larry Hill said, though two required more extensive decontamination.
Firefighters exposed to the substance also underwent the procedure, Cannon said. Eleven police cars also were cleaned.
Augusta had not been charged in the accident later Saturday. An investigation into the incident was continuing, Hill said.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT TRAFFIC INJURIES HAZARDOUS
SUBSTANCES by CNB