The West Midlands Fire Service were alerted to the incident at 2:15pm on Wednesday (28 August), after a mechanical digger accidentally ruptured a gas pipe outside the front entrance of the Mondelēz international site in on Bournville Lane, Birmingham.
Fire crews and two fire engines from the Kings Norton and Bournbrook stations attended the leak, with the first fire fighters arriving in under three minutes. A 100-metre exclusion zone was enforced around the affected area.
A spokesman for the West Midlands Fire Service told Food Manufacture: “By about 5:15pm, fire crews were standing by to give a watching brief and provide any assistance while staff from [gas supplier and network operator] Cadent were working on the affected area to repair the gas leak.
Assessing gas levels
“By 8:00pm, Cadent engineers were attempting to reduce pressure and expose the fracture. By 11:19pm a gas collar was in place [around the broken pipe] and fire service personnel assisted Cadent staff in checking all adjoining buildings for gas levels.”
Fire fighters and gas engineers confirmed the gas leak had stopped at just after 12pm and there was no gas in the area.
Commenting in the aftermath of the incident, a Mondelēz spokesman said: “As the gas leak has now been repaired and the area is safe, normal service has resumed at our Bournville site.”
Meanwhile, in March, a gas leak at prepared foods manufacturer Bakkavor’s Wigan factory hospitalised 10 members of staff and forced the evacuation of the site.
