Ammonia leak at New Haven business

New Haven, Conn. (WTNH) - A section of Brewery Street in New Haven was closed for several hours overnight after a hazardous materials scare.

Hazmat and fire crews were called out Wednesday night to investigate a spill at  Maritime International , a food distributor.

It happened around 8:30 p.m. There was an ammonia leak in a cold storage unit. Ammonia can cause irritation and even be flammable.

"And you'll see that we are putting water in there. The water absorbs the ammonia and dissipates any cloud that could be forming," says New Haven Fire Chief Michael Grant.

The leak was fixed, but firefighters remained on the scene overnight and into the morning to make sure there were no additional problems.

"This is a pretty busy area. You've got Ikea, the railroad, the post office over there. So the work that we are doing is containing the ammonia to the place it came from," says Grant. "We are going to look and find out where the leak occurred and see what we can do to get the company back in business."

Brewery Street was reopened around sunrise Thursday and all businesses were expected to be open at their normal times.

As of 10:30 pm on Thursday there are still two cop cars on the scene.