Telford Sainsbury's 'open as usual' following evacuation due to gas leak 'incident'
A major Telford supermarket is 'open as usual' after it was evacuated due to an 'incident'.
Sainsbury's on Telford's Forge Retail Park was shut yesterday (Thursday, June 19) after firefighters were called to an incident at the store at around 4.20pm.
A number of crews were sent to the scene along with police and the supermarket was cordoned off.
Speaking this morning (Friday), a Sainsbury’s spokesman said the store had reopened after a couple of hours.
The firm did not comment on the cause of the closure, saying only that it was due to an 'incident' and adding that the store was open as normal today.
He said: "Our Telford supermarket was temporarily closed for a couple of hours yesterday due to an incident. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused and the store is open as usual.”
Speaking to the Shropshire Star yesterday, Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service incident commander Craig Jackson had said the initial calls reported a potential fire, but investigations revealed it was more likely down to a leaking refrigeration unit.
He said: "We were alerted to a potential building fire at Sainsbury's. Crews arrived and they carried out investigations, and then they called for more appliances because there was a potential for smoke and a fire on the roof.
"When they've carried out further investigations, it's looking like a refrigeration unit is gassing up and leaking. So we've got a gas leak on the roof: refrigeration gas.
"We've isolated that and we're working with Sainsbury's now, with an engineer to look at making sure that it is safe."
He said the building would be tested for any remaining gas before the cordon was removed.
"We haven't located a fire on the roof and the alarms are looking like it's gas on the roof. We've got our drone team here at the moment, just carrying out a check of the roof, just to make sure there was no fire prior to the leak on the roof.
"We've been working closely with the police as well to help manage the traffic on the industrial estate. There are priorities - in this heat it's making sure that everyone's hydrated, including our crews.
"Sainsbury's staff will need to go back in and check the products, make sure it's safe to open the store."
