Proudly Serving the Cities of Arvin, Bakersfield, Delano, Maricopa, McFarland, Ridgecrest,

Shafter, Taft, Tehachapi, Wasco and all unincorporated areas of Kern County

To: All Media

Contact: Darrell Buck, Public Information Officer (661) 330-0133

Subject: Driver Hazardous Materials incident

WASCO, CA – On Friday May 30th 2008 at approximately 1:52 P.M., a call was received by the Kern County Fire Department for a possible leak of a hazardous material from an unknown container located on 16000 block of Driver Road at Clean Energy Systems. 13 Firefighters responded to this incident.

Upon arrival, crews were faced with a container, approximately 20 gallons in size, leaking an unknown chemical. Due to the unknown chemical, crews immediately evacuated an adjacent business and isolated the area until the arrival of the Kern County Fire Department Hazardous Materials Unit 66, from Bakersfield.

Hazmat technicians entered the hazardous area to obtain samples of the unknown chemical for testing. With the assistance of Kern County Environmental Health Department, the product was tested and determined to be a type of irritant.

2 persons transported themselves to a local area Medical Facility.

Operations were scaled down as a private Hazardous Materials cleanup crew decontaminated the area and removed the chemical.

There were no Firefighter injuries.

If you have any questions, please contact the Public Information Officer at (661) 330-0133.

Kern County Fire Department

Office of Public Information

5642 Victor Street

Bakersfield, CA 93308