Ammonia leak reported at troubled Pitman Farms poultry plant in Sanger
Pitman Farms poultry processing reported an ammonia leak Monday morning, forcing dozens of workers to evacuate the site in Sanger.
Several streets near the plant were blocked off as of late Monday morning including, Almond and K, Edgar and K and Cherry and J streets.
Sanger Fire Department Chief Greg Tarascou was not available for comment as of Monday afternoon at 1:15 p.m. as he was on the scene responding to the plant leak. But a Facebook post from the Sanger Fire Department at 8:18 a.m. confirmed the potential health hazard.
“Residents in the area may smell some ammonia in the air. We are advising residents in the area to shelter in place for now. Please turn off any air conditioners if you smell ammonia and stay inside if you can,” Sanger Fire Department said in a Facebook post at 8:18 a.m. Monday.
Fresno Fire Department was also at the scene. Department Spokesperson Joshua Sellers told The Bee that the leak was initially reported at 3 a.m. and the Fresno Fire hazmat team was requested around 5:45 a.m.
“We have the hazmat team, which is engine one and ladder one, hazmat rig and the battalion chief. They were all called out,” Sellers said.
Sellers could not confirm if any workers or firefighters were injured or hospitalized.
Sanger City Manager Nathan Olson said in a phone call that the incident was isolated to the plant and didn’t pose a threat to the general public. He said crews with specialized equipment were responding and he referred specific questions to Tarascou.
Pitman Farms processing plant in Sanger is one of the city’s largest employers. The company is known for raising and processing humanely raised poultry sold under the brands Mary’s Chicken, Mary’s Turkey and Mary’s Duck.
A February Fresno Bee investigation prompted by a workplace death found the company had a higher-than-average rate of injuries compared to similarly sized poultry processing plants nationwide.
Pitman Farms executives did not immediately respond to request for comment via email.
One worker who spoke with The Bee on condition of anonymity described what she experienced when she arrived for her shift at 9 a.m. “It smelled and my head hurt, my throat was burning, my tongue was numb and I felt nauseous,” she said in Spanish. “There were many of us who felt that way.”
The employee had heard that an ammonia tank exploded, but The Bee has not independently verified the claim.
Meat processors and other industrial food operations often use large amounts of ammonia in their refrigeration systems.
Federal health and safety regulators consider ammonia a “high health hazard” because it is corrosive to the skin, eyes, and lungs. Ammonia is one of the top three chemicals that causes worker injuries, according to an analysis of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data.
The smell of ammonia mixed with poultry was strong near Edgar Avenue and K Street, to the east of the processing plant, as of late Monday morning.
The neighborhood to the east of the plant has several homes, day cares and an apartment complex.
Nearby Sanger residents unaware
Yolanda Gomez lives on a block that neighbors the processing plant. She said she wondered what was going on when she noticed some workers in reflective gear on her block earlier that morning.
“I looked out the window and saw two men at the corner of the street,” she said in Spanish.
She was unaware of the ammonia leak until her husband and daughter alerted her, likely because they saw the fire department’s Facebook post, which was only available in English.
Gomez said: “If someone doesn’t know English, how would they know?”
A man walking his dog two blocks east of the plant said he was unaware of the ammonia leak or shelter in place order. He wondered why the streets were blocked off and said it often smells around the plant.
A Pitman Farms poultry line worker who lives near the plant was outside washing down his blue smock around 10 a.m.
Speaking with The Bee on condition of anonymity, he said he started his shift around 1:30 a.m. About an hour later around 2:30 am he said, workers were taken outside. He recalled firefighters arrived shortly after. Workers were then told “this is going to take a while” and sent home.
Droves of poultry workers were seen leaving the plant around 10:30 a.m.
Two workers told The Bee they were told to return at 1 p.m.
This isn’t the first ammonia leak at Pitman Farms.
According to the EPA, two dozen workers were hospitalized between 2014 and 2016 following three toxic ammonia leaks at the processing plant.
This story was originally published November 4, 2024 at 1:44 PM with the headline "Ammonia leak reported at troubled Pitman Farms poultry plant in Sanger."
