How Well Do You Know Your Neighbors?

SEATTLE — Federal investigators successfully removed 4,000 containers of hazardous chemicals from a home here in a cleanup that took almost 10 days, officials said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency inspected the house April 8 after firefighters discovered the stockpile of chemicals while helping an elderly resident walk down the steps of the home in the city's Green Lake neighborhood. Authorities immediately removed the owners, a brother and sister in their 90s, and called in hazardous-material teams to take out at least 40 varieties of chemicals they described as commercial and industrial grade.

Initially, officials thought they were dealing with about 1,000 containers, some leaking and many stored improperly and unlabeled.

MORE: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/17/residential-chemical-removal/7813739/?utm_sourc...