Acid spill reported Monday on Clark Bridge in Alton

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Alton Fire Capt. Charles Wellinghoff tries to get a closer look at the label on a 5-gallon jug of heavy duty concrete cleaner Monday after it apparently fell off a truck and was run over by an SUV, spilling hydrochloric acid and glycolic acid on the Clark Bridge.

Alton firefighters and public works employees used sand to absorb acid as it stretched out along the shoulder of the Clark Bridge.

The corrosive substance foamed up as it ran down the shoulder of the Clark Bridge Monday.

The yellow substance appeared to be eating the paint off a discarded soda can laying on the shoulder of the Clark Bridge Monday.

ALTON — An acid spill on the Clark Bridge Monday kept firefighters tied up for two hours dealing with the incident.

Just before 8:30 a.m. Monday, a 5-gallon jug of a heavy duty concrete cleaner apparently fell of a vehicle and was struck by an SUV, puncturing the container and getting it stuck under the SUV on the Clark Bridge in Alton.

The corrosive yellow-colored substance needed to be identified, and firefighters took pictures of the wedged plastc bottle to determine it contained hydrochloric acid and glycolic acid, which ran down the shoulder of the bridge stretching about 50 feet.

Police blocked the outer lane of the bridge and firefighters pulled the container from underneath a Nissan Rogue. The vehicle that dropped the can did not stop.

The owner of the Nissan had the car picked up by a flatbed towtruck.

Alton Public Works was called to bring sand to the bridge which was applied to absorb the foaming substance which looked to be eating the paint off a discarded soda can. The sand and acid was eventually removed from the bridge with no injuries reported.