Firefighters work for hours to stop ammonia leak in Sumner

SUMNER, Wash. — Firefighters in Pierce County worked for about eight hours to stop an ammonia leak in Sumner.

East Pierce Fire & Rescue responded to an automatic fire alarm at Shining Ocean, a seafood wholesaler packaging facility, at 1515 Puyallup Street, at about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday.

What they found was an ammonia leak.

The hazmat team isolated the immediate area and closed Puyallup Street.

Watch KIRO 7 at 5 p.m. for what happens next and why the leak was so hard to stop. >>http://kiro.tv/LiveNews

All employees were evacuated.

Firefighters at first couldn't pinpoint the leak, and tried at least twice to get the shutoff working. They then called in hazmat crews who could handle it.

"According to our monitors, they were off the charts as far as ammonia levels go, so it's basically a matter of they didn't have enough resources to take care of the situation so we had to escalate it," said Battalion Chief Rick Goetz with East Pierce Fire & Rescue.

Crews were still at the scene as of 9:30 a.m., when hazmat teams said they had finally stopped the leak.

At that time, ammonia levels in the building were still very high.  Firefighters, who remained at the scene as of noon, say they have to figure out how to ventilate the facility before letting anyone in.

Ammonia is commonly used in freezing and refrigerating operations and is corrosive to human lungs when inhaled. Hazmat crews had to enter the building wearing full protective suits.

No one was sickened by the leak.

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