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Ammonia leak at K.M. Davies

Cold storage plant quickly contained

The call came in about 7:25 a.m. on Thursday. A pressure valve on an outside pipeline at the K.M. Davies Plant on Lake Avenue in Williamson had released what was later to be determined 164 pounds of Anhydrous Ammonia had escaped into the air.

The cold storage plant, a staple for many area fruit farmers, uses the chemical to maintain low temperatures for crop storage.

According to Wayne County Fire Coordinator Rick Bond, the well-trained plant personnel quickly contained the leak. Williamson Fire Department volunteers laid down a fine mist to dissipate the chemical from the air. Bond said only faint odors from the facility could be detected a short time after the spill. Emergency personnel took precautions and evacuated people from surrounding businesses and homes in the immediate area and closed off a portion of Railroad Avenue . By 10 a.m. the last of the responders had left the scene.

Department of Environmental Conservation Spill Specialist Bruce Finster said the spill at the plant “could have been significantly worse than it was.” He stated that there was no significant impact to the environment.

Bond said that it appeared that a seal on the relief valve had somehow become wet and perhaps froze, causing an ice build-up and subsequent leak.