Latest local news, weather and high school sports for Tri-State area

QUINCY, ILL. -- 26 employees of Manchester Tank are home after a scare at the plant Tuesday morning.

Just after 8:00, employees were evacuated from the Quincy plant because of an incident with hydrochloric acid.

A spokesman for Tennessee-based McWane Inc., which owns Manchester Tank, tells the Associated Press there was no actual spill of the acid, only a leak of fumes - perhaps from some air-scrubbing equipment.

KHQA spoke to Darren Smith, an assistant fire chief with Tri-Township Fire Department.

He says when emergency crews got to the scene, the leak had already been stopped by employees of the plant.

KHQA also spoke with an employee who was at the plant when the incident happened.

He said the plant smelled like burnt rubber, and the evacuation alarm went off.

Everyone was evacuated for a time, then brought back in and allowed to go back to work, only to later be sent home for the day.

At first about ten people were complaining of breathing trouble, and were tended to by EMS at the scene.

Before it was all said and done, 26 workers were sent to the emergency room.

Nothing specific was released about the type of injuries the employees sustained, but hydrochloric acid can damage repository organs, eyes, skin, and intestines.

It's used in many industrial processes.

Manchester Tank makes tanks to hold propane, tanks for air compressors, and even industrial sized fire extinguishers.