"Richmond -- A freak power failure at the General Chemical Corp. plant in Richmond sent a potentially dangerous cloud of sulfur dioxide and sulfur trioxide billowing into the air yesterday, forcing thousands to stay in their homes and sending more than 100 people to local hospitals for treatment. "

Full article at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/200 1/05/02/MNCHEMICAL.TMP

My $0.02: I was astonished by the report of a resident that they didn't know what to do when the sirens sounded, and milled around outside on the sidewalk with neighbors. It seems to me that if you live in a neighborhood with a chemical plant, and you hear sirens, you (a) go into the house and turn on the radio, or (b) leave.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

Answers

link to story

The clue is in your thread header, CA. lol

Good to hear there were no fatalities.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

I just filled out a survey for my town's board of health. One of the questions was to check which services my household was interested in the BOH providing. One category was disaster preparation.

I took the occasion to blast the BOH as just one town board which, IMO, has an obligation to make sure the town residents and businesses understand what the disaster plan entails and how it would function. To me, anything less is a joke. This was info they refused to reveal prior to rollover. It was one of the reasons I made my own preparations.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001