Fumes Close Freeway, Send 14 to Hospital

Noxious ammonia fumes escaping from a refrigerated warehouse in Long Beach early Tuesday morning sent 14 people to an area hospital, drove panicked nearby residents indoors and shut down the Long Beach Freeway for about six hours.

Six workers in a packing room were affected by the fumes and quickly ran from the warehouse to call authorities at 2:57 a.m. Suffering from skin irritation and nausea, they were taken to St. Mary Medical Center as firefighters and police rushed to the scene and cordoned off several blocks, warning residents to stay indoors and shut their windows.

Authorities kept a two-mile section of the freeway closed in both directions between the waterfront and Pacific Coast Highway, snarling morning rush-hour commuters and harbor-bound cargo trucks in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Downtown streets near the Anaheim Street warehouse also were jammed as motorists tried to find detours.

When quickly shifting winds suddenly blew the anhydrous ammonia fumes toward the Long Beach Fire Department’s command center, seven police officers who had been redirecting traffic began feeling sick and were taken to the hospital. One civilian, a man who had been sleeping in his truck near the warehouse, walked up to the fire station complaining of nausea and dizziness and also was hospitalized.

“If you’ve never sniffed ammonia, it . . . will make you back up,” said Fire Capt. James Watson.

All but one of the 14 victims were treated and released; one of the workers was kept at the hospital overnight, authorities said.

A Los Angeles County hazardous materials squad outfitted in bright green protective suits waddled into the California Refrigerated Services Inc. warehouse before dawn to locate and isolate the source of the fumes, as ammonia continued to seep into the air. By 8:40 a.m., the crew had shut off the compressor that pumped the chemical into refrigerated areas and located the culprit--a cracked 1 1/2-inch-diameter steel supply line on an outside wall. Workers cut out the broken section and welded in a replacement pipe.

“It may have been just metal fatigue,” said Peter Divona, the company’s president, noting that the warehouse was built in 1923. “The important thing is, no one was hurt.”

Cal/OSHA sent a team to the site to investigate.

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Long Beach fire officials blamed the crack on “corrosion.” Jeff Lowe, Fire Department environmental investigator, said the pipe had been in service at least 18 years. “It was at least one day too old,” he said.

Fire officials estimate that 500 pounds of the 1,500 pounds of ammonia in the tank spewed into the air. Authorities said the amount of ammonia released was not likely to cause significant harm, but advised nearby residents and schools to shut their windows Tuesday morning.

Amada Galidres, 32, who lives one block from the warehouse, said she started driving to see a friend about 5:30 a.m. when a strange odor wafted through her open window. She said she was overcome with a headache and nausea, and returned home to rest.

Another woman, Raquel Paz, 57, said that she was awakened when the Fire Department arrived just after 3 a.m. and that she thought the flashing lights outside her house meant “gangsters did a drive-by.” Paz, a resident of the neighborhood for 10 years, said she has often smelled ammonia near the warehouse but has become used to it, though she also developed a headache after stepping outside to investigate Tuesday morning.

“I was scared, but things happen around here,” she said. “I’m used to the adrenaline.”