Hazardous Materials Specialist Takes Charge at Crash Scene

Todd Burton, a member of the County’s Hazardous Incident Response Team (HIRT), was driving home from work one afternoon last week when he came upon a collision at Black Mountain and Twin Trails roads just seconds after it happened. No emergency responders were yet on scene, although several motorists stopped to assist.

Burton, remembering his emergency response training, pulled over in his work truck to see if he could help.  

Two vehicles had collided leaving one  truck on its side with the driver  trapped inside. Then he noticed the pool chemicals and various containers spilling out of the truck bed.

Burton made sure someone called 9-1-1 then told everyone to stay away from the wet asphalt because it could be chlorine or acid leaking from the pool cleaning truck. His next concern was the driver stuck in the truck cab. Burton started talking to him through an open sliding window. The driver said he wasn’t  hurt and that he had not been exposed to any chemicals.

The driver, with the assistance of bystanders, jimmied the door open and  climbed out. Then Burton was “free to focus on all the hazmat stuff,” he said.

Burton began picking up containers and throwing  absorbent material on the spill. If the acid and chlorine mix it can create a chlorine gas and  quickly overcome people, Burton said. As it turned out, only some chlorine had spilled so that wasn’t an issue.

Burton met with responding officers and firefighters as they arrived on scene and reported the situation with the chemical spill. Neither of the drivers involved in the collision were hurt and the pool-cleaning truck driver was able to recover nearly all the chemicals for his job. Still, they were lucky a HazMat expert just happened upon the scene.

It’s all in a day’s work, said Burton, an environmental health specialist who has worked for the Department of Environmental Health for 18 years.

“Todd's modesty is grounded in the fact that any of his peers would have done the same.  They routinely respond to all types of chemical, biological and radiation emergencies. We're lucky to have such an expert group.  Few local jurisdictions, if any, have our capability,” said Michael Vizzier, chief of the Hazardous Materials division.

As it turned out, the City of San Diego’s hazardous materials team was dispatched to the scene, but Burton was already wrapping things up by then.