Chemical containers holding toxic material broke Friday at a UPS processing center in Cerritos, forcing the closure of the busy facility and leaving at least one person overcome by the fumes, a fire dispatcher told Patch.
The incident was reported about 10 a.m. at the UPS processing center, 13233 Moore St., Los Angeles County Supervising Dispatcher Ed Dickett told Patch.
An ambulance took the affected person to an emergency room; the injuries were minor, a fire official said.
The containers holding nitric acid were part of a shipment of six, Dickett said, but it was unclear where they were going.
The fire Hazardous Materials team was called to neutralize the chemical; the warehouse was not cleared for use until 4:30 p.m., Dickett said.
The chemical leak forced the closure of the facility, resulting in the delay of some deliveries, according to a UPS employee. The Cerritos hub is one of the largest UPS facilities in the nation.
Nitric acid is generally used in making fertilizer, explosives, rocket fuels and to artificially age wood, according to the website, nitricacid.info.
"In the jewelry trade nitric acid can be used as an inexpensive process to identify and assess purity of gold, particularly when in low-grade alloys," the website reads.
