an apparent chlorine accident along its outdoor American Trail exhibit Thursday morning<\/a> that created a “loud boom,” but caused no fire.<\/p>\n“There was an incident related to chlorine on American Trail, near the otters and beavers,” said zoo spokeswoman Devin Murphy. “There was a loud boom. No fire. No smoke.”<\/p>\n
“No humans were hurt,” she said. “No animals were hurt. We cleared the area and D.C. fire is on scene and they’re investigating.”<\/p>\n
Another spokeswoman, Pamela Baker-Masson, said the incident happened at 10:55 a.m. inside a small building that houses machinery that supports the beaver and otter exhibits. Chlorine is used in the water filtration system for the exhibits, she said.<\/p>\n
A contract employee was inside the building. He smelled chlorine, and left. Then there was the boom. The fire department was summoned. Baker-Masson said she did know what work the contractor was doing in the building.<\/p>\n
There was no gas, she said. The worker was examined by medics. “He is fine,” she said. As of noon, the area was still closed off, even to zoo keepers.<\/p>\n
American Trail winds among wolves, otters, beavers and other North American animals.<\/p>\n
Timothy J. Wilson, spokesman for the D.C. fire department, said officials suspect the accident may have stemmed from the improper mixing of chemicals.<\/p>\n
(c) 2016, The Washington Post \u00b7 Michael E. Ruane –\u00a0Staff writer Peter Hermann contributed to this story<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON — The National Zoo and fire officials are looking into an apparent chlorine accident along its outdoor American Trail exhibit Thursday morning that created a “loud boom,” but caused no fire. “There was an incident related to chlorine on American Trail, near the otters and beavers,” said zoo spokeswoman Devin Murphy. “There was a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5409,"featured_media":70423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[1,37],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Chlorine Explosion Responsible For Blast at National Zoo In D.C. - Breaking911<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n