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At approximately 1:20pm on Monday August 20, 2007 EPA phone duty officer Leos was notified by the State Emergency Operations Center of a release of Anhydrous Ammonia from a Double B Foods Inc, in Meridian, Texas. The release occurred at approximately 8:30 am this morning. There is one injury reported. Bosque County Emergency Management Coordinator (EMC), Bosque County Sheriff's Office (SO), Meridian Fire Department (FD), Clifton FD and Texas Commission of Environmental Quality (TCEQ) responded. EPA OSC McCormick has been dispatched to the scene to coordinate with the responsible party and local government.
At approximately 830 am Monday August 20, 2007 a release of Anhydrous Ammonia occurred from a Double B Foods Inc, in Meridian, Texas. Double B Foods is kolache-producing company in the heart of Meridan's town square.
Bosque County Emergency Management Coordinator (EMC), Bosque County Sheriff's Office (SO), Meridian Fire Department (FD), Clifton FD and TCEQ responded. Double B Officials failed to notify local, state and federal officials of the release.
A Bosque County Sheriff’s deputy suffered respiratory distress while trying to evacuate the area and was taken to Goodall-Witcher Hospital in Clifton. Several other residences reported exposure suffering from minor headaches. Workers at the Bosque County Courthouse in Meridian, as well as neighboring businesses and homes, were evacuated or "shelter-in-place" twice in less than an hour as a food plant released the anhydrous ammonia.
The release came from a safety release valve on a refrigeration unit at the Double B Foods company that “popped off” and released. Officials allowed people back downtown when approximately 30 minutes after the first release a second much larger cloud of ammonia was released.
Upon arriving, OSC McCormick met with Dewey Ratliff, Emergency Manager Coordinator of Bosque County, Jeffery Keese, Mayor and Emergency Manager Coordinator for the city of Meridian, and Aledjandro Araujo, General Manager of Double B Foods. Double B Food Officials is continuing to invesigate the accident however estimate 1400 pds of ammonia were released.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency will continue investigate the incident.
Double B Officials were requested by OSC McCormick to:
- investigate the accident and report their finding to the agengy;
- look at their emergency response procedures and meet with the local official on those notificiation procedures
- EPA will continue to look at regulatory compliance for Risk Management Plan under the Clean Air Act
- Local Officials, TCEQ, EPA and Double B Foods will get together for a Emergency Response Review with the next 30 days to discuss notification and response procedures.
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