
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 25, 1994                    TAG: 9406270325 
SECTION: LOCAL                     PAGE: B4    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: NEWPORT NEWS 
DATELINE: 940625                                 LENGTH: Short

FIRE AT SHIPYARD

{LEAD} Parts of three streets were closed to traffic Friday night when seven 55-gallon drums that contained a chemical used in waste treatment caught fire at Newport News Shipbuilding.

Five employees complained of eye irritation caused by the fire and were treated by shipyard medical technicians, spokesman Jack Garrow said. They returned to work Friday night.

Garrow said the drums contained calcium hypochlorite. They were being stored outside a metal finishing building at the corner of 34th Street and West Avenue when the fire erupted. It was extinguished by shipyard workers.

Garrow said he did not know what caused the drums to ignite.

The fire was reported at 5:57 p.m. when an employee heard a noise and noticed one of the drums burning.

Shipyard security and the Newport News Police Department closed off parts of West Avenue, 34th Street and 35th Street.

{KEYWORDS} FIRE

by CNB