Haz-Mat Crews’ Quick Response Contains Paint Spill

Hazardous materials crews contained 30 gallons of white paint that sloshed into a Fullerton flood control channel Wednesday morning when a large storage drum toppled off a forklift and rolled into a chain-link fence.

Fullerton firefighters and county hazardous material workers used booms to prevent the paint from making its way to a nearby collecting basin, from where runoff ultimately makes its way to the ocean.

Investigators said the paint splashed out of a 50-gallon drum that was being moved by a forklift operator at Vista Paint & Wallcovering, 2020 E. Orangethorpe Ave. An employee at a nearby business alerted authorities at 7:51 a.m. that the paint was flowing into the channel.