Crews respond to hazmat leak at Taylor Farms factory in Salinas
A hazmat situation at a building for a local ag giant kept first responders busy this morning.
First responders from several agencies were called out to Taylor Farms’ building off Airport Boulevard.
The Salinas fire chief tells us the situation could have ended a lot worse.
Just before 8 Thursday morning, a call came in about a chemical leak at the Taylor Farms building.
The situation was quickly upgraded from an investigation to a full hazmat response. Salinas Fire, Seaside Fire, Monterey County Health Department and AMR were all called out.
Fire officials tell us three or four 55-gallon drums were knocked over, creating a hazardous environment inside the facility.
One contained a solvent with acid used for sanitation, the others cleaning chemicals.
“The two interacted with each other and created more of a gas cloud,” says Salinas Fire Chief Jeff Johnson. “It can damage concrete. It can also in the right conditions can become flammable or potentially explosive. Luckily none of those conditions were reached.”
Some employees were evacuated, but there were no injuries, threats to the public or disruptions of traffic.
Johnson tells us this situation is a prime example of everything being done right from not only his team and the others, but from Taylor Farms officials as well.
So what happens next after the building is deemed safe?
“Monterey County Environmental Services and Taylor Farms, they’ll bring in a contractor and they’ll do a small cleanup of what’s left and that’ll be it, they should be back to full work,”
If you didn’t know this operation was happening, you’re not alone.
But Chief Johnson says that’s a good thing, meaning they executed the hazmat operation with as little disruption as possible.
We reached out to Taylor Farms for comment, but did not hear back.
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The hazardous material was contained within the building.
No injuries were reported.
