The Kodiak Fire Department responded to a reported ammonia leak near one of the local seafood processors off Shelikof Street on Friday morning, Aug. 9.
According to an emailed statement from the department, the odor of ammonia was strongest around 517 Shelikof Street, where the Silver Bay Seafoods plant is located. This was formerly the International Seafoods of Alaska building.
A staff member from Silver Bay told the fire department the company was doing plant maintenance the evening prior on Aug. 8 which involved one of its liquid storage tanks. After 10:30 a.m. on Friday, firefighters found a small leak involving a drip of anhydrous ammonia coming out of the 6,000-gallon tank.
Crews slowed the leak to the point where the drip stopped and only the occasional vapor of ammonia was seen. It’s estimated that less than one gallon of product was lost from the tank by the time the leak was fully addressed. No injuries or hospitalizations were reported in this incident.
Deputy Fire Chief Steel McNeil urges residents to be wary of the smell and the risks from being exposed to the potentially harmful gas. He said unless someone is exposed to the vapor cloud for a prolonged period of time, then typically ammonia won’t cause much harm in the short term.
“The odor is pretty pungent, kind of like mercaptan in propane. You don’t want to stay around it too long because it stinks. But it also attacks the mucous membranes in your eyes and your respiratory tract and that’s where it is most irritant,” McNeil explained.
McNeil said most of the local sources of ammonia around town are tied to the seafood processing industry due to the chemicals they use as refrigerant or products shipped into Kodiak.
If you smell ammonia, get outside to fresh air or somewhere with higher ground, and report the incident to emergency services by calling 911.