Published: Mar 29, 2012
Source:
ASECA — Employees of Birds Eye Foods in Waseca were evacuated shortly after 5 p.m. Wednesday when ammonia leaked inside the building.
Waseca emergency personnel responded and as of 5:40 p.m. said the leak had been contained.
“Everyone was evacuated and accounted for within the first five minutes,” Waseca Fire Department chief Gary Conrath said.
Conrath said nobody at the plant required medical attention, and both ambulances that had responded were given the all-clear from the scene at 6:19 p.m. Shortly after 6:30 p.m., employees were given the all-clear to return inside the building and fire trucks opened up roads around Birds Eye Foods they had been blocking off.
Conrath said the source of the ammonia leak was a gasket on a piece of equipment in the building’s compressor room.
As of 6:11 p.m. emergency responders said ammonia could still be smelled around the building, but that the leak had been stopped and the building was being ventilated.
An emergency responder on the scene said shortly after the leak people in neighboring homes around the building did not need to evacuate, but could if they wished to. People in neighboring homes were also advised to shut their windows and turn off their air conditioners and furnaces.
“We had some calls from people with smells in their homes,” Conrath said. “A lot of people had their windows shut because it’s a cool night. We got lucky there.”
Conrath said they will know how much ammonia was released after a gauge reading is taken inside the building.
Both evacuated Birds Eye Foods employees outside the building during the evacuation and employees after the all-clear had been given declined to comment.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website, ammonia is a clear, colorless gas that “when concentrated, is corrosive to tissues upon contact.” Amonnia is commonly used in manufacturing, refrigeration and agriculture, and can usually be detected by its odor, according to the CDCP.
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