Chemical brew causes hazmat incident in East Boston

(George Rizer/Globe Staff)

Firefighters wearing air tanks waited outside the facility this morning.

By Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent

Fire crews responded in force this morning when a drum of improperly mixed chemicals caused a hazardous materials situation in an East Boston boatbuilding facility, officials said.

Crews working to build pleasure boats at Boston Boat Works called for help when they noticed smoke and an unusual smell in the supermarket-sized facility, said Steve MacDonald, a Boston Fire Department spokesman. They called for help just before 8 this morning.

The hazmat situation was declared a 2-alarm incident because more manpower is needed in decontamination efforts, MacDonald said.

“This was a place that uses different kinds of chemicals in the boatbuilding process – lacquers, adhesives, bonders, epoxies, things like that,” MacDonald said. “A lot of them are meant to be mixed together."

No one was injured, but hazmat crews hosed down employees as they left the building and gave them white jumpsuits to wear as their clothes were cleaned to remove potentially hazardous particles.

Fire crews searched the facility and found a 55-gallon drum smoldering, which they determined was caused by improperly mixed chemicals, MacDonald said. The mixture was not dangerous to the employees, MacDonald said.

Hazmat crews were on the scene until noon. A private company will assist the property owners in cleanup.

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