Iredell County Emergency Services and area Hazardous Material Response Teams responded on Friday to a hazardous material release at Lineage Logistics in Statesville.
Hazardous Material Response teams and Emergency Services continue to remain on site at the plant, according to a news release on Sunday morning. Conditions both on and off the plant site are also being closely monitored by other county, state, federal and utility personnel. Air monitoring outside the plant shows levels well below the threshold for concern to area residents and should not cause health concerns.
At this time, there has been no impact on the safety of citizens living or working in the plant’s vicinity and no protective actions are necessary, the release states, after assessing the ammonia leak.
Anthony Edward Lamattino, 35, of Woodstock, Georgia, died as a result of the accident. Carson Brandon Drawdy was injured as well. Iredell County Sheriff’s Office Detective Bradley Henderson interviewed Drawdy at Wake Forest Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem on Saturday.
Drawdy and Lamattino were working for a subcontractor and were demolishing a freezer wall inside the plant, according to an investigator. They cut out of a section of the wall and noticed an ice buildup behind the wall, Henderson said.
They began chipping away the ice, and Drawdy told Henderson he next noticed what he described as a cloud of smoke, but it was the ammonia. He was able to get out of the area.
Two Iredell County emergency responders were evaluated at a local hospital as a precaution for their exposure to the chemical, according to Iredell County Fire Services and Emergency Management. They were released early Friday evening.
“We are working with OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) on the investigation,” Campbell said Friday. He said investigators will attempt to determine exactly what occurred.
Lineage Logistics is a cold-storage company providing warehousing and transportation, according to the company website.
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