JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Residents in a north Jacksonville neighborhood were cleaning their cars Saturday after they were covered by humic powder from a nearby company that distributes fertilizer.
JFRD said the dust that covered several blocks of the San Mateo neighborhood on Friday night was actually humic powder from a nearby company, Humic Growth Solutions.
Chris Hilling was heading home from work when he saw police blocking off streets in his neighborhood.
“At first I just asked, ‘Hey what’s going on? Do you need me to turn around?’ They said, ‘Yes, unfortunately, we do.’ So then I asked, ‘Well, what’s happening?’ They said, ‘We don’t know. We can’t say with certainty at this time, and we’re not sure when we’re going to be able to let you back in,’” Hilling said.
He said he then called his wife to find out what was going on.
“She calls me back and says, ‘You’re not gonna believe this. Someone said that an airplane dropped their sewage tank and the product got all over everyone.’ Listen, I’ve had some crappy days in my life, but I never want that to be literal,” Hilling said.
He said some of the residue was on his car.
“I had this weird brown stuff right above the door handle on my car and I didn’t think anything of it at first, but then when it wouldn’t come off throughout my entire day at work, I started thinking, this is a little weird,” Hilling said.
JFRD said the company had a malfunction and the fertilizer that’s normally contained, was accidentally released.
The situation still raises concerns for Hilling.
“How does this even happen? How do you just let chemicals like that loose in a neighborhood? And I hope that all the elderly people in my neighborhood were kept safe and that they didn’t breathe too much of it in,” Hilling said.
JFRD said the hazmat team tested the substance and a spokesperson said it wasn’t anything to be too alarmed about.
But JFRD said people should not ingest it.