Locals angry with ammonia leak response

THEODORE, Alabama (WALA) - Some locals near the Millard Refrigerated Services plant feel they were not alerted soon enough of the chemical spill. Some say a siren did not sound until nearly an hour after the leak.

The spill happened around 9:30 Monday morning, but locals said an emergency siren didn't go off until 10:20 a.m.

There are homes and families in the area, and people feel that with this dangerous chemical threat, they should have been alerted sooner.

Michael Casey certainly didn't have a good day. His morning did not go as he had hoped.

"I smelled a little bit, and I just held my breath, got in my truck and wound up just driving off from it," Casey said.

But he didn't get far.

"I wound up hitting a tree backing up and tearing the trailer up," explained Casey.

Casey has a trailer that holds his boat. When he hit the tree, it left one of his tires badly damaged, so now he's repairing it. Casey feels he should've been alerted of the emergency sooner.

"It was an hour later when the alarm sounded off," said Casey. "I think that's messed up. It would've saved us from tearing something up if we'd been notified about it."

Down the road, Teri Anderson learned of the spill from a phone call and later heard the siren.

"How quick can they respond? Somebody has to punch in the words, tell 'em what to say," Anderson said.

Anderson said the instructions during the alarm sounded garbled.

"It came proper. It just needs to be louder," added Anderson.

The officials in charge of the siren were unavailable when FOX10 News tried to contact them.