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tin Masks near the damaged pipe, dents who were home either went anmmonia fumes hung in the into townver to the city's ailWjund the plant for about an communit. nter, about six (Continued from Page A-t) hour. Once the heavy chemical blocks away. ammonia fumes while containing vapors dissipated, workers began Jeannie Karas said she was in the leak were treated for minor re-entering the plant. town shopping when the evacua- throat burns at Tracy Community Ammonia can cause asphyxia- tion was ordered, so when she re- Memorial Hospital. tion, throat irritations and skin turned home and found her neighbors all gone she got a little Laprina plant manager Dave burns. .,spooked." Kielsmeier said that at 11:16 a.m. Kielsmeier said there have a worker accidently dropped a been small ammonia leaks at the A few minutes later, about 1:15 ladder on a plants rear ger[ton valve plant before, but never any as sig- p.m., residents began returning to in thentftcant as Monday's accident. their homes, she said. Karas, a on About 500 gallons of ammonia, resident of the park since 1979, used as a coolant, are estimated By Monday afternoon the com- said the leak did not frighten her. to have spilled. pany still did not have an esti- "This is no worse than living Kielsmeier said up to 100 work- mate on the amount of damage next door to anything else;' she ers were forced to leave the build- the leak may have caused. said. ings, and Tracy police officers As soon as the valve broke, In March 1986, a tank con- evacuated eight homes off Grant Laprina officials called the police taining 370 tons of anhydrous am- Line Road and 100 to 110 homes and fire departments for help. monia at the J.R. Simplot fertilizer in the Green Oaks Mobile Home plant in Lathrop began slowly leaking,p Park on MacArthur Road. A 10-mile-an-hour wind was plforam the evacuation of from the plant, towards the mo- Plant engineers repaired the blowing the toxic ammonia east 8400 residents downwind of the broken valve by 12:16 and bile home park. plant and another 1,500 residents firelighters began hosingng down around the plant. That leak was the refrigeration unit in an effort "I was just sitting down inside not contained for two days. to absorb the spilled ammonia. when there was a knock at my "Once the pressurized ammo- door," said Ed Yochum, of Green nia was released, it turned into a Oaks. "A plain-clothesman vapor. The water fog from the showed me his badge and told us hose absorbs most of what is be- to leave right away. 1 think it was ginning to dissipate in the air," really good for them to jump on said Mike Cockrell, assistant di- top of this so fast." rector of the San Joaquin County Yochum walked a few blocks Office of Emergency Services. down the street to his brother's Emergency workers wore face home, but most of the park resi-