A clean-up is underway at Parmalat Canada’s Black Diamond Cheese factory in Belleville.
The plant had to be evacuated shortly after 5 a.m. Thursday after there was a reaction between two chemicals that released a gas, described as an “irritant”, into the air.
The Belleville Fire Department responded to the cheese factory on the Black Diamond Road in numbers and ventilated the building.
Ambulances were called and a few people were assessed by paramedics, with one being taken to Belleville hospital for assessment. That person is said to be doing well.
The city’s Public Works department trucked in some clean sand to help in the clean-up of a spill of chemicals.
Private company Canutek, experts in dealing with dangerous goods, is on scene and supervising.
Black Diamond’s day-shift workers were told to gather on a parking lot and wait for the clean-up to finish.
It’s expected firefighters will leave the plant before 9 a.m.
