VAIL, Ariz. (KGUN) — A routine day of grocery shopping turned into evacuations at a busy Safeway in Vail Monday.
When there’s a refrigeration leak at a place as big as a supermarket, there’s the potential for a lot of leaking refrigerant so when that happened at the Safeway on Mary Ann Cleveland near Colossal Cave Road, in Vail they called for evacuations.
When you can’t get to your neighborhood grocery store it can really put a hitch in your life.
KGUN reporter Craig Smith asked Maile: “What were you headed to the store for?”
Maile: “To pick up a birthday cake.
Craig: “And now what are you seeing?”
Maile: “Closed down, I can’t get in. I had a pick up time and now I can’t pick it up.”
JoNette Werch was headed to Safeway to shop. She found an ambulance out front and the store closed off by yellow hazard tape.
“We thought maybe someone had a heart attack or something in the store because we saw the ambulances.”
JoNette Werch told us what every shopper said before we even asked—-that they really like this particular Safeway and it’s an important part of their daily life.
What shut them out was a coolant leak from the store's refrigeration system. Rincon Valley Fire got the call about 11:30. Firefighters decided clearing the shoppers and staff was the best thing to do.
Assistant Chief Allen Yalen of the Rincon Valley Fire District told us: “We have air monitoring equipment that's checking the levels to see if it's safe to go in.”
About 1:30 they confirmed it was safe to go in, and with the leak sealed up the store was cleared to reopen.
