8 The Goodland Star-News / Friday, June 18, 2010

Sherman County SpeedwayGoodland, KS

June 19 at 6:30 p.m. MT July 19 races has been cancelled due to

Fair race in Hays, KS

IMCA Modifi eds; IMCA Stock; IMCA Northern Sport Mods; IMCA Hobby Stock; Econos.

Pit Gates open at 2 p.m. MT

Pit Pass $25 (all ages)Grand Stand:

0-5 FREE6-12: $5.00

13 and up: $10.00

Races sponsored by:SCSCRA,

Coors and Coca-Cola

Monday-Thursday 8 a.m.-6 p.m.Friday 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

785-332-2682 888-278-0234221 West 1st St. St. Francis, KS

www.cheyennecountyhospital.com

Accepting New

Obstetric &Pediatric patients!

Providing complete OB care

Dr. Rebecca Allard & Kristle Raile, PA-C

Cheyenne County Clinic

ABSOLUTE REAL ESTATE & GUN AUCTION For the Jack Kamper Estate

Thursday, July 1st 6:30 PM at 420 W. Hwy 24, Goodland (subject to court approval)

Property will be offered in 2 tracts and in combination of tracts

TRACT 1: 2,600 sq ft commercial building with office/retail area including coolers, vehicle work bays and storage. Lot size 204.96’ X 150’ .Lot includes 40’ easement for access to mail boxes. Offers lots of options for the right business. High traffic area! TRACT 2: Home site consists of 2 bedroom, 1 bath, partial base-ment. (Please contact Terry for more information on this home) Lot size 145’ x 150 TRACT 3: Combination of Tracts 1 & 2

TERMS & CONDITIONS: $2,500 earnest money deposit day of sale. Cost of title insurance and any closing fees shall be paid ½ by sellers and ½ by buyer. Taxes prorated to date of closing.

Sale will not be subject to buyer financing. All financial arrange-ments must be made prior to auction. Closing will be on or be-

fore July 15th, subject to court approval. Homestead Realty is an agent for the sellers and will not represent the buyers For more information or to view the property contact Terry Richardson.

Guns sell at 6:30 PM TMK 380cal. KBI Inc SN-N21787, made in Hungary

Tansagho Armi 25cal SN-M148677, made in Italy Tauras 9mm PT 99AF para, SN-L24696, made in Brazil

Call for literature luCKe MaNufaCturiNG

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Vision Source of Goodland and Burlington would like at announce that Dr. Danielle McAtee and her husband Brock will welcome their baby soon! We encourage you to make appointments for back-to-school eye exams early as she will be on maternity leave the month of August.

Drs. Mark Wahlmeier and Jeff Morrison will still be available for appointments in Goodland and Colby. The Burlington and Goodland offices will maintain their usual business hours to service all your optical needs!

Colby (785) 462-8231 • Goodland (785) 899-3654 • Burlington (719) 346-8415

Dale Stull, BrokerCell 719-349-5710

Toll Free 866-346-5710www.thelandofficellc.com

LAND FOR SALE

The Land OfficeLLC

Kit Carson County Colorado 2690± acres Combination grass, CRP, & expired CRP. $1,335,338 1260± acres dry land. 1 mile west of Vona. $767,650 5308± acre ranch. Grass, dry land, CRP north of Seibert Price Reduced was $2,654,000 Now $2,554,000

Washington County Colorado 320 acres retired CRP 4 miles south of Lindon $168,000 Cheyenne County Colorado 960± acres dry land $417,600 Sherman County Kansas 40 acres with home, shop & other buildings. S of Ruleton $130,000

Bomb squad blows up old chemicals from labBy Vera Sloan

Colby Free Pressvsloan@nwkansas.com

A state bomb squad blew up six jars of volatile picric acid at the Thomas County landfill Monday, jars that had been found in a Colby Community College lab last week during a supposedly routine inven-tory.

Picric acid is a compound that, when dried and crystallized, can explode because it is sensitive to shocks, heat or friction, said Susan McMahan, Thomas County emer-gency preparedness director.

It all began on Wednesday, June 9, said Dr. Paula Davis, vice presi-dent for academic affairs at the college, when she asked for an inventory of classroom equipment and supplies.

Chemistry instructor Chad Ma-gee and some students doing the inventory discovered crystallized picric acid in two rooms in the office area of the chemistry department. The discovery prompted college of-ficials to call the county emergency management department and the city fire department, who in turn called the state fire marshal’s office in Wichita.

“It is not that unusual,” said Da-vis, “for a chemical to have to be removed from a chemistry depart-ment in a school.”

When Magee saw the acid, Davis said, he recognized it as dangerous and called the college officials to tell them he thought it probably needed to be removed.

“There were six quarter-pound bottles of picric acid, with two being considered unstable,” said Fire Chief Bob McLemore. “One was a third full and the other was two thirds full. Crystallization had begun near the top of the bottles, and anytime that happens, they are determined to be a hazardous product. The remaining bottles were hydrated and considered to be stable.”

Another discovery was a quart jar about a fourth full of white phospho-rous. White phosphorous is a waxy solid that burns easily and is used in chemical manufacturing and for smoke munitions and incendiary devices for military use.

Davis said it is difficult to say how old the chemicals were, but the biggest thing to do was to make sure to keep everyone safe. Since the department doesn’t use the acid anymore, she said, the instructors chose to get rid of all of it, even the “safe” bottles.

Barry Kaaz, dean of eternal af-fairs and buildings management, said he called the Colby Fire Depart-ment late Wednesday afternoon to tell them what the inventory had turned up.

Fire Chief Bob McLemore said he told Kaaz to secure the building while he made some calls.

“Anything with this potential has to be taken care of by the Kansas fire marshal’s bomb squad,” said McMahan.

McLemore said he was told the bomb squad was training in Kansas City, but if the chemicals weren’t handled and the scene was secured, it would be safe to wait until the

squad could get there Monday morning.

McMahan said she called to-gether a team from the fire depart-ment, city police, sheriff’s office and the county emergency medical services, landfill and road depart-ments, and began to put together an incident action plan to have ready when the bomb squad arrived on Monday.

“There were 12 of us in the room,” she said, “and we literally laid it out on the table what the possibilities were. We had to prepare for the worst and hope for the best to hap-pen.”

At worst, the explosion could have caused some structural dam-age to the building, she said, or a hazardous materials spill because of the mix of the chemicals stored in the two rooms where the picric acid was discovered.

McMahan said their plan was to remove at least one container of crystallized picric acid and dispose of it at the Thomas County landfill, keeping in mind there was a poten-tial for other containers in the lab area and office area to go off. They made plans to secure the area prior to entry and during the trip to the landfill.

The planners issued a general safety message for their team: “This

Two members of the state fire marshal’s explosive unit lowered a container of white phosphorus into a special blast trailer for the trip to the Thomas County landfill. At the landfill, the squad dug a shal-

low hole and detonated the chemicals. Photos by Susan McMahan/Thomas County Emergency Preparedness

and Vera Sloan/Colby Free Press

product in crystalized form is an explosive and corrosive hazard. Responders need to take proper personal protection equipment precautions, stay well hydrated and monitor vitals during response. The transport will take this product through populated areas to the dis-posal site, so extra public protection measures will be taken. Because the product is in a chemistry lab, the potential of explosion could gener-ate other hazardous products due to other chemicals in the lab.”

College officials said they didn’t want to panic the students, or the town, so they did not announce the problem.

“To avoid panic among students and parents,” Kaaz said, “the college issued a press release on Thursday saying there would be an emergency exercise at the college on Monday morning. The building itself was locked up.

“However, custodial staff were told to not enter the area, and the keys were not in the hands of anyone else who had keys to the secured sites.”

On Monday, McMahan told the county commissioners her office was issuing a press release that said: “On June 14, 2010, there will be numerous responding agencies at Colby Community College. The

community college personnel found in their lab, in Thomas Hall, picric acid in an unstable dehydrated state which can be an explosive hazard. The amount of the product is small but requires the Kansas State Fire Marshal’s Explosive Unit to remove and disposes of the product.

“Local emergency responders are supporting the removal and disposal operation and are using this incident as an opportunity to train and test the county emergency operations plan and response procedures. The risk to the community is extremely low. Please respect the restricted area and emergency personnel working in the area.”

Kaaz said on Monday, the college secured the administration building, Thomas Hall, the Health Sciences building and the A.F. Davis Library. Classes were moved to the Bedker Memorial building at the south end of the campus.

Kaaz said after he had talked with the chemistry instructor, he (Kaaz) went back into the room and tagged the containers with orange stickers for quick identification by the state team.

He added the state team praised the county personnel for their ac-tions and said they were impressed with the plan they had formulated and with the way they organized the

removal of the chemicals.“We went to the college on Mon-

day morning,” McLemore said. “Barry unlocked the doors and the bomb squad removed the chemicals in three trips, with the white phos-phorous coming out last.”

Chief McLemore and McMahan said a county dump truck was sent to the college with about a half load of sand on it. The chemical was put in the sand to cushion and stabilize the picric acid on its way to the disposal site. The white phosphorous was transported in a special trailer with a cone shaped compartment designed so if there was an explosion, it would direct the force upward. The trailer was pulled to the landfill by a sepa-rate vehicle.

“We left the college at 11:45 a.m.,” McLemore said.

Landfill Director Larry Jumper said his instructions were to clear a site that would leave 500 feet in all

directions for a safety zone. Jumper said he measured the site in all di-rections and with a loader, made a pad for the chemicals and marked it with flags.

McLemore said the state bomb squad dug a shallow hole in the pad, then deposited the chemicals. They placed a explosive called PETN (an acronym for a $700 word) around the chemicals, plus a detonation cord that was set off with an initiator device. The squad moved back to the safety zone and the countdown began.

After one loud boom, and a cloud of black smoke, and then a second bang, the crew waited for a few minutes and returned to check the site. All the chemicals had been destroyed, Jumper said, but the phosphorous continued to burn for a little while.

McMahan said the operation in-volved nine members of the Colby Fire Department, two from the county road department, one from emergency management, three from the ambulance crew, four from the Colby Police, two from the sheriff’s office, one from the landfill, four from the state fire marshal’s office and one from the college.

“This was a great exercise for everyone who works with emergen-cies,” McMahan said. “The com-munications were excellent, and we had an action plan in place … but luckily didn’t have to use it.

“I make the plans, and they do all the work.”

• Picric acid is a solid yellow crystalline compound made from phenol, sulfuric acid and nitric acid.

• The acid can be used as an explosives, to stain samples for examination under a micro-scope, as a preservative for bio-logical specimens, in workplace drug testing and as a dark brown temporary skin dye.

• The acid is stored in glass or plastic bottles under a layer of water. Metal containers can cause the acid to form picrate salts, which are highly sensitive to heat or vibration.

• In dried and crystalized form, percussion or rapid heat-ing can cause the acid or the picrate salts to explode.

Acidyellowcrystal