May 23, 2013

Weather

Fog/Mist

63°
Feels Like: 63 °
Conditions at Winchester Regional, VA
Save Email Print Bookmark and Share
A A
Reporter: Alyssa Raymond Email

Ammonia Leak Cleanup

Crews are still working on cleaning up after an ammonia leak at sunshine's pride dairy in Winchester.

A crew of about eight worked overnight and into the morning. A tank truck from Philadelphia came in around six a.m. to take the remaining anhydrous ammonia. The ammonia is no longer leaking. Chief Scott Cullers says they'll still be working.

"We've had several reports of smelling ammonia in the neighborhood. I just want to let everyone understand that there is no health issues with that. The odor threshold with the anhydrous ammonia is very very high . It's in there for a safety reason so in the process of them offloading this material some of the vaporization that will come off of this neighbors will smell this," said Winchester Fire and Rescue Chief Scott Cullers.

Cullers says they don't know exactly how much ammonia leaked and they are still looking in to how the leak happened.

"The initial report was that a compressor was leaking. We also think there might have been a relief valve on one of the anhydrous ammonia tanks inside that might have let loose. Right now we really don't have a definitive answer if it was a parts malfunction, human factor or what was involved with it," said Cullers.


Comments are posted from viewers like you and do not always reflect the views of this station.
powered by Disqus