After a long night and morning of fighting fire, Canton Fire was called upon once again to serve another aspect of the fire service, the hazmat incident. Tones dropped while teams were wrapping up at a structure fire on the O'Horo Road and dispatch transmitted a confirmed ammonia leak at SLU's Appleton Arena. Dispatch stated that there could possibly be up to 800 pounds of spill. Potsdam Fire, already at Canton Station for stand-by, responded directly to the scene with Engine 48 and Rescue 30. 1st Assistant Chief Bob Crowe and Rescue 1 responded from the fire scene on the O'Horo Road, leaving 2nd Assistant Chief Erik Johnson, Canton Engine 6 and Dekalb ETA-10 to maintain the final overhaul of the structure. After a short meeting between University Officials, St. Lawrence County Emergency Services Director Martin Hassett, and Fire Chief Mike Dalton, it was determined that the leak was minimal but still had the potential to be hazardous to the immediate area. Siemens Refrigeration was requested to the scene and arrived shortly thereafter. Two teams of firefighters from both the Potsdam and Canton Fire Departments ventilated the building while two firefighters from Canton Fire assisted Siemens in shutting down the compressor that was leaking ammonia. Once the machine was secured by firefighters, Siemens deemed the scene safe and recommended continued ventilation of the area. Fire units on scene were released and all units returned to quarters.
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