Police and firefighters cordoned off a Blackbutt North intersection on Friday afternoon to respond to a hazardous materials spill.
A spokesperson for the Queensland Fire Department said, at approximately 12:14pm on Friday 13 February, the organisation sent three fire trucks and a scientific investigation unit to the intersection of Boobir Creek Road and Emerson Road.
QFD’s spokesperson described the initial report from the public as being about a pile of rubbish which had fallen off a truck and onto the roadway, and which subsequently began emitting smoke and a “chemical smell.”
Firefighters and officers for the Queensland Police Service erected a 100-metre exclusion zone around the truck parked on Emerson Road while investigators isolated the source of the smell.
A spokesperson for the QPS said the chemical in question had been identified as hydrogen chloride – the colourless gas which forms the corrosive hydrochloric acid when dissolved in water.
The chemical reportedly originated from a 20-litre drum inside the truck.
Firefighters successfully isolated the contaminated rubbish by 1:45pm and began clean-up efforts.
Police advised members of the public that the exclusion zone has not yet been lifted, and called for locals and motorists to avoid the area approximately four kilometres north of Blackbutt’s town centre.
South Burnett Regional Council mayor Kathy Duff could not confirm if the truck carrying the drum of chemicals was part of council’s Friday bin collection fleet in the area, saying she and senior council staff had been unaware of the incident until contacted by Burnett Today.
