Two hospitalized in chemical spill

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Two employees were hospitalized and others were evacuated Tuesday afternoon when peracetic acid spilled in a storage room at the Sutter Gould Medical Foundation Briggsmore Specialty Center in Modesto. The employees suffered "minor exposure" to the peracetic acid, Modesto Fire officials said.

One employee complained of throat and eye irritation, but both were hospitalized as a precaution, said Modesto Fire Battalion Chief Hugo Patino. By 5 p.m., the employees' conditions had stabilized, and they were expected to be released from the hospital Tuesday night, Patino said.

The center is just east of Memorial Medical Center in the 1400 block of East Briggsmore Avenue. Patino said the incident occurred about 12:50 p.m. when the two employees were adding the concentrated chemical to water. He said the employees spilled a small amount of the chemical on the storage room floor and their clothing. The west side of the building was evacuated as a precaution. About 5 p.m., the Stanislaus County Hazardous Materials Response Team had gone into the building, cleaned up the spilled chemical, placed it in a sealed container and declared the area safe.

Center officials were expected to hire a company to do a final cleanup of the storage room and safely discard the chemical. Peracetic acid is a mixture of acetic acid and hydrogen peroxide in a watery solution. Peracetic acid, a bright, colorless liquid, is used to disinfect medical supplies and has a piercing odor.

Memorial Medical Center was not affected by the spill.