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Industrial Hand Soap Spill At Major Jefferson Park Intersection Prompts Hazmat Callout

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – A flatbed truck spilled hundreds of gallons of industrial hand soap at a Jefferson Park intersection Tuesday morning, prompting a hazmat callout because officials could not initially identify the substance.

Chemical Spill At Major Jefferson Park Intersection Prompts Hazmat Callout
A hazmat callout for a chemical spill in the Jefferson Park area of Los Angeles. Oct. 26, 2021. (CBSLA)

Los Angeles Fire Department hazmat crews were called to the intersection of Crenshaw and Jefferson boulevards just after 8 a.m. when ten plastic 55-gallon drums containing an initially unknown substance fell off a flatbed truck near an Arco gas station.

Surveillance video showed two men riding in the truck run from the scene.

"It was loud and it seemed like the containers kept falling off," said Corey Yuguchi, a witness. "You could hear them one at a time."

Yuguchi watched the spill happen from the gas station.

"I saw liquid splashing all over the tamale guy," he added. "The guy was sopping wet, didn't get in his eyes, but he was sopping wet."

The substance that fell out was described as "green goo" by some witnesses, but officials said it appeared to be hand soap.

"It appeared to be an industrial detergent, similar to a commercial hand soap, that was coming out of the drums," LAFD Capt. Eric Scott said.

According to the fire department, one person who was exposed was decontaminated at the scene. There were no reports of serious injury.

There were no evacuations or major road closures.

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