Leetsdale Fire, Hazmat Respond to Citric Acid Spill

No one was injured Sunday night after a railroad tank car leaked hundreds of gallons of citric acid in the .

 said the fire department was called out to Weatherford International around 6 p.m. after approximately 400 to 500 gallons of the product leaked out onto the ground from a railcar at the company.

Weatherford manufactures more than 1,000 different chemicals at the Leetsdale plant. The Engineered Chemistry division provides chemical treatments for oil and gas production, produced water, and additives for drilling, according to the company’s website.

“It was just being delivered to them,” Logan said. 

Logan said the railroad tank car was carrying 19,886 gallons of citric acid, a substance used for cleaning, flavoring and other purposes.

A contractor with the Allegheny County Hazardous Materials team was called out to clean up the spill. Logan said the contractor arrived about midnight, which is when he said the cleared the scene.

“Nobody was hurt, and there was no danger to the community or anything else,” Logan said.