Surrey Fire Service’s hazmat team was called in to a possible ammonia leak in Newton early Saturday morning, according to the battalion chief.
Reo Jerome, Surrey battalion chief, said the department was called to the leak at Sunrise Poultry Processing Plant around King George Boulevard and 73A Avenue just before 1 a.m.
Twenty-two employees, Jerome said, were evacuated with no injuries.
Jerome said crews thought two employees might have been unaccounted for when staff did the count, but it turned out the employees “made it out OK.”
A Black Press freelancer on scene said Surrey RCMP closed the area around the plant, including King George Boulevard between 72nd and 74th avenues.
The freelancer said a refrigeration technician van was seen driving into the scene.
Jerome told the Now-Leader the hazmat team went into the building to do some gas monitoring and sampling, but “by the time they had got in, the levels had dropped to zero.”
A company had been installing “new detection devices” earlier in the evening, Jerome said, so crews were not sure where the source was.
Jerome said the department gave the all clear just after 3:30 a.m.
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