Excerpts from WGNTV.com:
A firefighter is the latest person to file a lawsuit over the Beach Park ammonia spill in April that sent more than 40 people to the hospital.
The 23-year-old firefighter said he has a severe and permanent disability from the spill. The lawsuit names the driver of the tractor carrying the ammonia and his employer, John Kevek Farms. It says the company did not train employees correctly or did enough to prevent the spill.
On April 25, a farm tractor was pulling a pair of two-ton tanks of anhydrous ammonia near Green Bay Road and 29th Street in Beach Park when the tanks started to leak, creating a dangerous plume.
Anhydrous ammonia is a colorless gas used as an agricultural fertilizer and industrial refrigerant. It gives off pungent, suffocating fumes, that can cause eye and throat irritation, chest pains, pulmonary swelling and even burns. It can be fatal if inhaled at high concentrations.
