Two Town of Hempstead sanitation workers escaped serious injury the morning of August 7 when noxious fumes began to escape from the rear and top of their truck. The workers, Glen Kreuzburg and Rob Kuzminski, suffered difficulty in their breathing when they inhaled the fumes. A third worker, Casey Cox, was upwind of the fumes and escaped uninjured.

Levittown firefighters, under the command of Chief John Rottkamp, responded to the intersection of Tower Lane and Water Lane North where they found the truck and a white cloud seeping from the top. The workers, along with firefighters, were moved upwind of the truck to a "safety zone."

At first the workers thought it was a fire and it was at this point that they inhaled the fumes. It was ascertained that they had made a pickup and had gotten about a block away when the incident occurred. Investigation by firefighters indicated that the fumes were chlorine that had mixed with other waste within the truck. The workers were immediately put on oxygen.

Chief Rottkamp requested mutual aid from Wantagh for an additional ambulance and from Hicksville for their hazardous material unit. Nassau County was also notified for their Haz-Mat Team and additional police were also called to the scene in the event an evacuation of the area was required.

Hicksville's Haz-Mat Team climbed upon the truck and removed the remaining chlorine into a container. Fortunately, most of the chemical was intact and still in one place within the hopper otherwise the load would have had to been dropped.

The workers were treated at the scene and continued on their route once the condition was stabilized. There were no other injuries and all units secured from the scene after about two hours.