THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 28, 1994 TAG: 9409280533
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: BRIEFS
DATELINE: REMINGTON LENGTH: Short : 28 lines
Not even the use of masks could prevent workers from sneezing, sneezing and sneezing some more as they cleaned up 40,800 pounds of jalapeno pepper powder that had spilled from a wrecked truck.
``It doesn't hurt you, but it makes you feel like you're going to die,'' said Chuck Thompson, Fauquier County's emergency services coordinator.
The spill occurred Sunday night when a truck hauling 34 boxes that each contained 1,200 pounds of the powder ran off U.S. 29 just north of Remington, went down an embankment and flipped over in Tin Pot Run.
About 1,000 pounds of the powder got into Tin Pot Run, which feeds into the Rappahannock River, but Thompson said the stream adequately diluted the pepper.
``By the time it gets to Fredericksburg, it's very minor,'' he said.
The driver was not injured, but the county billed him $235 to clean up the mess, Thompson said. by CNB