Chemical Leak Not Dangerous

A 10-second power outage at Neville Chemical made one resin reactor overheat. As a safety mechanism, a mixture of hydrocarbons was released into the air around noon yesterday and dissipated within an hour.
Guillermo Cole, spokesman for the Allegheny County Health Department, says the amount released was not harmful, though it did smell. He says the vapors are like gasoline fumes, and recommends opening up houses where the odors still linger.
Cole says if the small amount of vapors hadn't been released, the reactor would have exploded, causing fires and the release of more hydrocarbons.