Chaos on Cannery: Aquarium and Monterey Plaza Hotel receive visits from fire department

There was confusion and a little chaos on Cannery Row, Thursday morning. Both the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Monterey Plaza Hotel received visits from the Monterey Fire Department around 9 in the morning.

General manager of the Monterey Plaza Hotel said they called the fire department after a security guard noticed a strong chemical smell. Hotel guests were woken around 9 to a call from the front desk, asking them to evacuate the building.

The Monterey Fire Department said the smell came from an ammonia leak from an older model of a refrigerator. They said that the older style of refrigerator uses ammonia for cooling. They noted that the dated model was one of the few left in some of the hotel’s guest rooms.

Monterey fire chief, Gaudenz Panholzer, said they take situations of this kind seriously. “Prolonged exposure to anything that has a caustic effect can be dangerous to the lungs and we don’t know what other kind of poisonous elements might get into your body,” said Panholzer.

Chief Panholzer mentioned that, thankfully, no one was harmed during this morning’s incident, although guests did experience a change of plans. “We have a two and a half year old infant with us and we want to get as far away from this as possible, just to make sure that everything is fine and safe,” said Michael Holberg, guest of a neighboring hotel.

Monterey Fire said guests won’t have to worry about the faulty fridges any longer. They told us the hotel plans to remove each of the dated models from the property. Some hotel guests said they aren’t planning on letting all the commotion de-rail their vacation time. ” We thought we might go on a whale watching trip or whatever so we’re gonna see how our day unfolds now,” said Dorothy Anderson, guest of Monterey Plaza Hotel.

On the other end of the row at Monterey Bay Aquarium, an h-vac unit overheated, emitting smoke into the building. The aquarium had yet to open, so no visitors or staff were harmed. Monterey Fire said the aquarium was able to continue to welcome guests throughout the day.

The two incidents required road closures, but both ends of Cannery Row have since been cleared.