These may occur from above ground storage, pipelines or fuel transfers from tankers. Events would produce severe fire hazards and enormous environmental damages to fish, wildlife and commerce. While the majority of incidents tend to involve petroleum products, a significant number involve extremely hazardous materials. Extremely hazardous materials are those materials which may do irreversible damage or cause death to people or harm the environment when released or used outside their intended use. Approximately 200 local facilities with extremely hazardous materials report their inventories to the county under SARA Title III provisions.
Efforts continue to increase the compliance rate and the education level of local facilities.
In excess of 300 hazardous materials events require response in King County annually. In addition, many events are not reported or go undetected. Hazardous materials may also be released as a secondary result of natural disasters like earthquakes and floods. In either case, building or vehicles can release their hazardous materials inventories when they are structurally compromised or are involved in traffic accidents. Pipelines can be exposed or ruptured from collapsed embankments, road washouts, bridge collapses, and fractures in roadways.