HAZMAT EMERGENCY: Route 28 and surrounding area needed to be...

CENTERVILLE – DEVELOPING – Firefighters needed to close down Route 28 and an area of Centerville today after they discovered a leaking acetylene tank locked inside a plumber’s truck…

At about 10:30AM, police and firefighters responded to a Franey Mechanical Services van parked in a vacant lot at the intersection of Route 28 and Phinneys Lane.

According to radio transmissions, a worker had somehow locked himself out of his service van filled with various tanks containing highly combustible gasses. An acetylene tank was said to be leaking inside of the locked van, turning it into a ticking time bomb.

It’s uncertain how fast the tank was leaking, but the van had plenty of time to build up dangerous gasses as firefighters set up resources to deal with the emergency.

According to a source, the area needed to be evacuated… and in this case, hazmat protocols call for an evacuated radius that could reach a far as a half mile… (It’s unlikely first responders went quite that far in this instance…)

Route 28 was completely shut down for about twenty minutes as firefighters hit the entire van with water. Two fighters then carefully approached and smashed out the van’s rear window, giving the dangerous gasses a chance to dissipate.

HN will provide updated information when officials release their statement…

The following video highlights the entire scene which could have easily turned into a major disaster zone…

[Press play… Select HD in the settings and enlarge player for best quality…]