PINEDALE, Wyo. — Yesterday afternoon, Sublette County Unified Fire was dispatched to the Museum of the Mountain Man in Pinedale to safely collect and dispose of a small quantity of concentrated nitric acid stored in an antique bottle.
The museum presumes that the antique bottle was donated and then stored in the basement. When museum staff discovered the antique bottle, they contacted the fire department to identify and dispose of the hazardous material.
Nitric acid is a colorless liquid acid used in the manufacture of substances including fertilizers, dye, explosives and many other chemicals. Nitric acid can cause severe health hazards, is very toxic by inhalation, and it is very corrosive through skin contact. The antique bottle appears to have been from the 1870’s to 1890’s and stored for an unknown time at the museum.
Sublette County Unified Fire contacted the Regional Emergency Response Team from Rock Springs who responded together with the Sweetwater Bomb Squad to assist with the incident. Hazardous Materials Technicians from the Regional Response Team safely removed the nitric acid from the museum. Because the antique container was crystalized and potentially unstable and reactive, the Sweetwater Bomb Squad used a bomb robot to open the container and allow the Hazardous Materials Technicians to test and definitively identify the substance.
Due to the instability of the product, specialists from the Regional Response Team and Sweetwater Bomb Squad determined the safest way to dispose of the nitric acid was to detonate it in the parking lot of the museum rather than attempt to transport it.
Bomb Technicians successfully detonated the product in a safe manner and Hazardous Materials Technicians collected the remains for disposal afterwards.
