Wayne County pesticide exposure kills 1, creates contamination scare
Jun 18, 2018, 10:13 AM | Updated: Aug 4, 2022, 8:34 am
A community health center in Wayne County is closed due to possible contamination after a person exposed to an industrial pesticide was transported to the Bicknell facility by ambulance. The person has since died. A temporary urgent care clinic is now open at the Bicknell Community Center while the health facility is evaluated for contamination. Wayne County Sheriff's Office
BICKNELL, Wayne County — Police and health officials in Wayne County are investigating the death of a person who was exposed to an industrial pesticide, resulting in a contamination scare at a community health center.
The Wayne Community Health Center was closed Sunday night due to possible contamination after a person exposed to an industrial pesticide was transported to the Bicknell facility by ambulance. That person later died.
Wayne County spokeswoman Kassidee Brown says it was a phosphine pesticide, though it’s “unclear how he had it, how he got it.”
About 7:45 p.m. Sunday, a person “encountered an industrial pesticide material” at a home in Teasdale, Brown said. First responders and medical personnel were taken to other medical facilities to be evaluated “out of an abundance of caution,” according to a county news release.
Brown said a hazardous materials team from the Utah National Guard evaluated and cleared all those who came in contact with the victim, as well as the clinic and the ambulance he arrived in.
“They came down here (and checked) all the readings and did decontamination of the clinic and the ambulance here, and have deemed it clear and safe of any contaminations or gasses of any type,” she said. “It’s all safe.”
Brown says the community health center was expected to open its doors again at some point Monday.
A temporary urgent care clinic was opened at the Bicknell Community Center, 605 S. 350 East, while the health facility was evaluated for contamination.
