Archive
Posts Tagged ‘Nicholas Burdette’
Montgomery mall worker dies of toxic fumes www.privateofficer.com
June 22, 2010
Leave a comment
Montgomery AL June 22 2010
Source: Montgomery Advertiser Mall goers hoping to pick up a last-minute gift for dear old dad, or just to hang out, found themselves politely turned away from Eastdale Mall by Montgomery police officers Sunday.
Officers had blocked off every entrance of the mall, while the Montgomery Fire Department’s HAZMAT team tried to find the source of an R-22 refrigerant leak near the mall’s ice skating rink and get it stopped.
R-22 is a common refrigerant used in residential and commercial heating and cooling systems for decades, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But the EPA also considers the refrigerant a factor in ozone depletion, and many countries including the United States have agreed to phase out much of its use by 2020.
Lt. Mark Drinkard, a spokesman for the Montgomery Police Department, said the Montgomery Fire Department received a call about 11:36 a.m. Sunday about the leaking refrigerant near the mall’s skating rink.
He said shortly after that the Police Department received another call reporting a man was dead at the same location.
Drinkard said law enforcement and fire and rescue units responded to the scene and evacuated the building by noon.
The deceased man, Nicholas Burdette, 22, of Millbrook apparently was at the mall performing janitorial services when he died, according to Drinkard. He added that it appears Burdette worked for Professional Facilities Management.
Drinkard said the body has been released to the coroner, but Burdette’s cause of death, and whether it was related to the leak, would not be known until an autopsy was performed.
Mall employees like Kearran Green and LaQuinta Smith, who had just arrived at the mall as it was being evacuated, were left to wait to be told they could go home for the day and to find out what actually had happened.
“When I got here it was already blocked off,” said Green who was trying to stay cool under the shade of a tree across the street from the mall. “It’s hot out here and I am ready to go home, but I’m waiting to see if they open back up.”
Both Green and Smith, who work at the Body Central clothing store, said the rumors about what was going on at the mall were flying.
“A girl told me that it was a bomb threat,” said Smith, who has worked at the mall for seven months.
Green, who has worked at the mall for a month, had been told that there was more than one dead body found.
Smith said she’s concerned about what the environmental conditions in the mall will be like once the leak is stopped.
“We have to work in there,” she said. “Whatever that is will be all over the clothes that we sell.”
The mall, which is open from 1 to 6 p.m. on Sundays, eventually was closed and employees sent home to keep them from inhaling fumes.
An attempt to reach mall manager Dave Schloss about whether the mall would open at its regular time today was unsuccessful.
Source: Montgomery Advertiser Mall goers hoping to pick up a last-minute gift for dear old dad, or just to hang out, found themselves politely turned away from Eastdale Mall by Montgomery police officers Sunday.
Officers had blocked off every entrance of the mall, while the Montgomery Fire Department’s HAZMAT team tried to find the source of an R-22 refrigerant leak near the mall’s ice skating rink and get it stopped.
R-22 is a common refrigerant used in residential and commercial heating and cooling systems for decades, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But the EPA also considers the refrigerant a factor in ozone depletion, and many countries including the United States have agreed to phase out much of its use by 2020.
Lt. Mark Drinkard, a spokesman for the Montgomery Police Department, said the Montgomery Fire Department received a call about 11:36 a.m. Sunday about the leaking refrigerant near the mall’s skating rink.
He said shortly after that the Police Department received another call reporting a man was dead at the same location.
Drinkard said law enforcement and fire and rescue units responded to the scene and evacuated the building by noon.
The deceased man, Nicholas Burdette, 22, of Millbrook apparently was at the mall performing janitorial services when he died, according to Drinkard. He added that it appears Burdette worked for Professional Facilities Management.
Drinkard said the body has been released to the coroner, but Burdette’s cause of death, and whether it was related to the leak, would not be known until an autopsy was performed.
Mall employees like Kearran Green and LaQuinta Smith, who had just arrived at the mall as it was being evacuated, were left to wait to be told they could go home for the day and to find out what actually had happened.
“When I got here it was already blocked off,” said Green who was trying to stay cool under the shade of a tree across the street from the mall. “It’s hot out here and I am ready to go home, but I’m waiting to see if they open back up.”
Both Green and Smith, who work at the Body Central clothing store, said the rumors about what was going on at the mall were flying.
“A girl told me that it was a bomb threat,” said Smith, who has worked at the mall for seven months.
Green, who has worked at the mall for a month, had been told that there was more than one dead body found.
Smith said she’s concerned about what the environmental conditions in the mall will be like once the leak is stopped.
“We have to work in there,” she said. “Whatever that is will be all over the clothes that we sell.”
The mall, which is open from 1 to 6 p.m. on Sundays, eventually was closed and employees sent home to keep them from inhaling fumes.
An attempt to reach mall manager Dave Schloss about whether the mall would open at its regular time today was unsuccessful.
Categories: Uncategorized
Eastdale Mall in Montgomery, Nicholas Burdette
