http://www.highways.gov.uk/news/breaking-news#1
Motorists have been forced to leave their vehicles after a chemical tanker caught fire on the M6 in Warwickshire.
The motorway has been closed in both directions between junctions two and four, the Highways Agency said.
Drivers close to the tanker, which caught fire between junctions three and 3A, were evacuated from their cars and an 800m exclusion zone is in place.
They’ve cut the barrier to let traffic turn now,
What a mess eh all from a tyre blowout supposedly 
Warwickshire Police said the tanker, believed to be carrying hydrochloride
One for those with ADR - What is the actual danger of that catching fire?
ROG:
Warwickshire Police said the tanker, believed to be carrying hydrochloride
One for those with ADR - What is the actual danger of that catching fire?
If the wheel caught/is on fire and it continues to the truck i wouldn’t like to be near it
so prob quite high looking at the BBC picture,
They’ve managed to clear a lot of trapped traffic by the look of it.
Tramadol nights! 
9 people either taken to hospital or treated at the scene
Why is it always a Tanker or Hazadous Load, why cant it be lorry load of Teddy Bears. 
It’s like when there’s a disaster in Yankee Doodle Dandy Land ie; New York, there’s always a FED EX Lorry or Van in shot 
(is there a conspiricy going on ?)
Got caught for 6 hours on the M6 a few years ago during the Mad Cow Panic. A Tanker carrying ‘Cows Blood’ was leaking, so the authorities parked it on the hard shoulder & proceeded to make a nice Lake of Cruetzfeldt Jakob Disease all over the road. Must have cost Millions to the transport industry to have all those vehicles parked up. Why could’nt they drive it off to the next junction & deal with it there & just get a couple of road sweepers to clean/wash it up off the motorway. 
Joking aside, I hope everybody’s ok.
speedyguy:
They’ve cut the barrier to let traffic turn now,What a mess eh all from a tyre blowout supposedly
Was from a blowout, I was going s/b when it went, glad I wasn`t 10 minutes later.
Stuck in the services @ corley for 3 and a half hours cause of that, it was crazy… Only poped in for a quick pee, came out and everybody had stopped! Another one of our drivers came in not far behind me and our planner rang (after we told him traffic was stand still) after an hour and said you to have been there for a long time, wot are you doing? Lol… Bless him! It was interesting watching artics spin round on the m-way… Its tighter than it looks it would seem!
As I got on the M42 from Brummingham Airport, the matrix signs said Long Delays. As I got to the M6, the traffic wombles were putting out the cones and telling people to do one.
So like an absolute bellend, I spun it around at Tamworth and proceeded to get a 6hr working infringement sat in traffic, I just couldnt find anywhere to park. Bugger.
ROG:
Warwickshire Police said the tanker, believed to be carrying hydrochloride
One for those with ADR - What is the actual danger of that catching fire?
ROG,
According to the second of the short clips in the second link in the OP, the tanker was carrying:
Hydrogen Chloride, which is a toxic gas that is also corrosive. ( = Extremely dangerous.)
The HC itself doesn’t burn, but if the tanker became over-pressurised it could burst with quite devastating consequences in terms of people being injured by poisoning and/or chemical burns.
Just for you ROG, here’s a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for HC:
dieseldave:
Just for you ROG, here’s a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for HC:
Is that something that could be classed as ‘Information in writing’ or is there a general kind of template for that.
nsmith1180:
As I got on the M42 from Brummingham Airport, the matrix signs said Long Delays. As I got to the M6, the traffic wombles were putting out the cones and telling people to do one.So like an absolute bellend, I spun it around at Tamworth and proceeded to get a 6hr working infringement sat in traffic, I just couldnt find anywhere to park. Bugger.
Put it on break then 
Not a tanker then:
The driver of the lorry, which was carrying chemicals and paper, was among those treated after they had complained of breathing difficulties.
The fire started at about 09:15 GMT on Wednesday after a tyre on the tanker burst and caught light.
Emergency services placed a 1,000m exclusion zone around the stricken lorry as a precaution.
This led to more than 100 drivers and passengers being forced to abandon their cars and walk to safety.
They then waited for news at Corley services.
However, the authorities involved in tackling the incident, the Strategic Co-ordinating Group, later said in the statement: "The group is able to reiterate its assurances to the public that no risk is posed.
“Any smouldering from the scene is a result of the burning paper and is not connected to chemicals.”
Santa:
Not a tanker then:The driver of the lorry, which was carrying chemicals and paper, was among those treated after they had complained of breathing difficulties.
The fire started at about 09:15 GMT on Wednesday after a tyre on the tanker burst and caught light.
Emergency services placed a 1,000m exclusion zone around the stricken lorry as a precaution.
This led to more than 100 drivers and passengers being forced to abandon their cars and walk to safety.
They then waited for news at Corley services.
However, the authorities involved in tackling the incident, the Strategic Co-ordinating Group, later said in the statement: "The group is able to reiterate its assurances to the public that no risk is posed.
“Any smouldering from the scene is a result of the burning paper and is not connected to chemicals.”
the shape of the fire looks square, the tanker has flown away, the BBC are not worth a toss and the 94 people killed have actually suffered from slight sneezes.
martinviking:
Why is it always a Tanker or Hazadous Load, why cant it be lorry load of Teddy Bears.
It’s like when there’s a disaster in Yankee Doodle Dandy Land ie; New York, there’s always a FED EX Lorry or Van in shot :? (is there a conspiricy going on ?)
Got caught for 6 hours on the M6 a few years ago during the Mad Cow Panic. A Tanker carrying ‘Cows Blood’ was leaking, so the authorities parked it on the hard shoulder & proceeded to make a nice Lake of Cruetzfeldt Jakob Disease all over the road. Must have cost Millions to the transport industry to have all those vehicles parked up. Why could’nt they drive it off to the next junction & deal with it there & just get a couple of road sweepers to clean/wash it up off the motorway.
Joking aside, I hope everybody’s ok.
Yeh. I see what you mean. America in general perhaps?
What was the tanker carrying? Flammable chemicals are usually named rather than refered to as merely “Chemicals”. There’s no such thing as just “Hydrochloride” on it’s own. Perhaps it’s something really fancy like;
ETHYL N-(N,N-DIMETHYLAMIDINO)-N-METHYL CARBAMATE HYDROCHLORIDE
which has a fairly low flashpoint (below water’s boiling point) which will also involve it being highly flammable.
No major injuries or deaths in this M6 J3 incident has to be a good thing though.
dieseldave:
ROG:
Warwickshire Police said the tanker, believed to be carrying hydrochloride
One for those with ADR - What is the actual danger of that catching fire?
ROG,
According to the second of the short clips in the second link in the OP, the tanker was carrying:
Hydrogen Chloride, which is a toxic gas that is also corrosive. ( = Extremely dangerous.)
The HC itself doesn’t burn, but if the tanker became over-pressurised it could burst with quite devastating consequences in terms of people being injured by poisoning and/or chemical burns.
Just for you ROG, here’s a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for HC:
So what is this ■■■■■ actually for DD?
axletramp:
So what is this [zb] actually for DD?
Hi axletramp,
I’m not a chemist, so I can’t give you a good answer to your question, but I found this on Wikipedia:
Most hydrogen chloride is used in the production of hydrochloric acid. It is also an important reagent in other industrial chemical transformations, e.g.:
Hydrochlorination of rubber
Production of vinyl and alkyl chloridesIn the semiconductor industry, it is used to both etch semiconductor crystals and to purify silicon via trichlorosilane (SiHCl3).
It may also be used to treat cotton to delint it, and to separate it from wool.[citation needed]
In the laboratory, anhydrous forms of the gas are particularly useful for generating chloride-based Lewis acids, which must be absolutely dry for their Lewis sites to function. It can also be used to dry the corresponding hydrated forms of these materials by passing it over as they are heated; the materials would otherwise fume HCl(g) themselves and decompose. Neither can these hydrates be dried using standard desiccator methods.
I got it from here:
Hydrogen chloride - Wikipedia
I guess that the easy answer is to say that it’s a chemical that’s used in various industrial processes.
I see! Thank you!
HCl is a gas at room temperature. It is very soluble in water, which in turn makes Hydrochloric acid. Breathing in the gas therefore will form Hydrochloric acid inside one’s lungs with the moisture there present.
If Hcl is carried as a gas, it will therefore be pressurised. On rupturing such a tank, the released HCL whilst still dry will rise and disperse as a toxic gas cloud. Dissolving in puddles, and other moisture about will turn just about every and any source of exposed water into hydrochloric acid, so it seems that a 1km exclusion zone isn’t over-warranted.
Ordinary spirits of salts that one can buy in a hardware shop is exactly the same as maxed-out (36%) water-dissolved HCl solution - ie concentrated hydrochloric acid.
Great for cleaning limescale and metal oxide off just about anything, but also great at taking the lining from your lungs if handled without adequate ventilation. 