Hypodermic Needles Cleaned Up from Contra Costa County Roadway

A street in El Sobrante has reopened after fire crews and a hazardous materials team finished removing an estimated 2,000 used hypodermic needles that spilled onto the roadway early Tuesday morning.

The spill was reported just after 5 a.m. on Santa Rita Road near Appian Way. Contra Costa County Fire Protection District crews used brooms and shovels to pick up the needles and put them back in the container they appeared to have come from, Fire Marshal Lewis Broschard said.

A county hazardous materials team was also sent to the scene. "They are addressing any liquid that might have been on the road as a precaution," said Devra Lewis, a hazardous materials specialist with Contra Costa Health Services.

She said the team planned to use a bleach solution to clean the roadway in case any biological matter had spilled.

No injuries have been reported, Lewis said.

It remains unclear how the needles got onto the roadway or what they had been used for, California Highway Patrol Officer John Fransen said.

"We got a call in early this morning that they were out there ... People are definitely encouraged to call that type of stuff in," he said.

The roadway was shut down for the cleanup but reopened at about 8:25 a.m.

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