NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas — More than 100 people were evacuated due to an ammonia leak in a food processing facility in New Braunfels late Monday night.
The HAZMAT situation occurred at the New Braunfels Smokehouse food production facility in the 400 block of North Guenther Avenue.
New Braunfels Fire Department posted on its Facebook page that a small leak of a large ammonia tank happened inside the facility. All employees working at the time were evacuated, the post said.
As a precautionary measure, additional evacuations of nearby homes and businesses were ordered. Using the reverse 911 system as well as door-to-door notifications, NBPD and the New Braunfels Fire Department evacuated those within two tenths of a mile around the facility, affecting approximately 115 people.
Around 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, NBFD updated its Facebook post to say the evacuation was lifted.
Here is the full statement:
"The Guada-Coma Hazmat Team, which was established in 2014 by regional fire departments (including New Braunfels) to be able to assist during hazardous materials incident, made the scene of the ammonia leak, made entry into the facility, and was able to locate and stop the leak. As a precaution, air monitoring has been established by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) around the plant. The voluntary evacuation order was lifted and there were no injuries associated with this incident."
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