An ammonia leak that seems to have a faulty valve at the heart of the failure has touched off a cascade of consequences involving the Chicago Fire and Police departments, an engineering organization, county and state Attorney General offices, and the EPA.
It started as a leak of anhydrous ammonia on March 22 at a cold storage facility on Chicago’s South Side. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that four employees and a bystander inhaled ammonia fumes, were taken to hospitals for treatment, and then released. Four others complained of illness, the newspaper said. Police cordoned off a 16-block area for two hours during morning rush.