Cortland Fire Responds to Freon Leak at CP Foods in Cortland

On Wednesday, July 31st around 1:30 in the afternoon, Cortland Fire responded to CP Foods at 34 Owego Street for a hazardous condition call. Cortland Fire says the building was in the process of being evacuated due to a gas leak coming from a cooler inside the store.

After arriving on scene and speaking with employees of the store, a determination was made the leak was mostly likely Freon. Freon is used as a refrigerant and is better known as coolant or refrigerant.

To ensure safety, firefighters entered the building in PPE and self-contained breather equipment, Cortland Deputy Fire Chief Derek Reynolds told X101 News. Firefighters were able to locate a broken copper pipe that was supplying Freon to the main sales case for the store’s meat products.

Firefighters worked to immediately stop the leak and isolate the Freon along with the power to the main cooler and other affected coolers by the leak. After the leak and power were mitigated, products from the damaged coolers were moved to other working coolers to minimize the loss.

Cortland Fire says no injuries to employees, customers, or firefighters were reported thanks to the quick actions of building evacuation and firefighter precautions.