Robyn Edie / Stuff
Crews from three Southland fire stations responded to an ammonia leak at the Alliance meat plant in Lorneville.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand has lifted a safety message that was in place for residents around the Alliance meat processing plant in Lorneville after an ammonia leak on Tuesday afternoon.
The alarm was raised at 7pm after mobile phones in the area received a push notification from Fire and Emergency New Zealand at 2.10pm, which read: “Fire and emergency are currently isolated in an incident at Alliance Group Lorneville an ammonia leak. All “People in the immediate area are being asked to keep their windows and doors closed until further notice.”
Crews from Invercargill, Thornbury and Wallacetown, including a specialized hazardous materials unit, responded to a call about a leak in the plant on the outskirts of Invercargill at 12:06 p.m.
At 12:45 p.m., FENZ personnel carrying personal protective equipment insulated the leak into an area after being moved through various sections of the plant.
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A St. John spokesman said three ambulance crews, two managers and a fast response vehicle were called at 1.41pm on Tuesday on Crowe Rd.
Initial reports suggested that six people needed an assessment, but four declined and two were treated on the spot.
The alliance also confirmed that two employees had been treated on the spot.
About 30 firefighters were on the scene and some remained at the scene after 7pm to monitor the situation, a FENZ spokesman said.
Robyn Edie / Stuff
Fire & Emergency sent an alarm to cell phones near the Alliance Lorneville plant over the ammonia leak.
FENZ District Manager Julian Tohiariki said the emergency alert was sent as a precautionary measure, as part of the normal procedure.
The leak was in a freezing area and not much of the ammonia escaped from the building, he said, but he could not say how much ammonia was lost.
The crews waited for the engineer’s approval to make sure it was safe to distribute and dilute the gas cloud associated with the leak.
An Invercargill daycare advised parents to keep children inside as a precautionary measure.
Justin Schwarz and his family were isolated about 2.5 miles from the Alliance plant at home when they received the alarm.
His first thought was, “How dangerous is ammonia?”, Followed by “How far are we from the Alliance?”
The family had been outside earlier in the day and had all their windows open to enjoy the sun.
As soon as they received the alarm, the four adults from the household around the windows and doors were closed, even checked three times for good measure.
Alliance Group General Production Manager Willie Wiese said in a statement: “An ammonia leak occurred in a cold store at our Lorneville plant near Invercargill today around 12:10 p.m.
“Even so, the site was immediately evacuated and fire and emergency services New Zealand were involved in the incident.
Full processing was expected to begin again Tuesday night.
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