An emergency cleanup was under way yesterday at an abandoned paint factory in East Baltimore after federal and state environmental inspectors discovered thousands of drums, cans and vats of paint, solvents and other hazardous chemicals.
Inspectors were still checking the former Ainsworth Paint and Chemical Co. at 3200 E. Biddle St. but had found only one drum that was leaking, said Quentin Banks, spokesman for the Maryland Department of the Environment.
Left untended, however, the chemical stockpile is a fire and health hazard, said Peter H. Kostmayer, regional administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. He said that evidence of vandalism was found at the old plant.
Mr. Kostmayer said inspectors have tallied 500 55-gallon drums, most containing paints, thinners and solvents; 50 vats and tanks, ranging in size from 500 gallons to 20,000 gallons, with similar contents; and 15,000 five-gallon cans, many containing paint.
Two of the most hazardous chemicals at the factory are vinyl chloride, a gas known to cause liver cancer in plastics workers, and nitrocellulose, an ingredient in explosives that is ignitable.
State inspectors summoned by the Baltimore Health Department found drums behind a building when they visited the old plant Feb. 9, Mr. Banks said.
They returned Feb. 22 with a search warrant and found the chemical stockpile inside.
It was not clear how long the plant had been abandoned. The factory had produced Fuller-O'Brien paints for more than 30 years before the O'Brien Corp. sold it to Ainsworth in the mid-1980s, said Russ Robinson, vice president at O'Brien in South Bend, Ind.
Ainsworth, which made paint for boats and ships, stopped production at Biddle Street in 1988 after losing a federal contract and subsequently defaulted on $1.3 million in city and federal loans.
Government officials said they think the company went out of business in 1991.
At the state's request, the EPA has taken over the cleanup. Guards have been posted, and two companies -- Environmental Technologies Inc. and Roy F. Weston Inc. -- have been hired to dispose of the chemicals. The cost and duration of the project were not known yesterday.