Plant Evacuated After Ammonia Leak

An ammonia leak at a west Shreveport dairy Wednesday morning caused a small fire and led to the brief evacuation of the plant. No one was injured in the incidents at Foremost dairy, located off Monkhouse Drive near Shreveport Regional Airport. The Fire Department was called to the dairy about 9:20 a.m. after anhydrous ammonia began leaking. Firefighters said they found a one-inch pipe that was leaking from a valve that had ruptured in a maintenance room.  That rupture caused a small fire that was extinguished before the Fire Department arrived, Assistant Fire Chief Scott Wolverton said.  The plant evacuated all 136 employees as a precaution, Wolverton said.  Plant workers got to an emergency shut-off valve to stop the flow of the hazardous vapor and firefighters ventilated the area of the dairy where the leak occurred and to check air quality around the plant, Wolverton said.  There was no evacuation of homes and businesses near the dairy.