WESTFIELD – The Westfield Walmart store was evacuated briefly Wednesday afternoon when toxic carbon monoxide gas was found to have infiltrated the store from construction equipment at the store at 141 Springfield Road.
City firefighters report a 12:29 p.m. caller reported a carbon monoxide alarm and Deputy Chief Andrew Hart reports that the toxic gas was detected in the store when firefighters arrived.
“Somehow it got in the back of the building”, he said, from construction equipment involved in an expansion project at the store.
Fire records show that a caller had reported Tuesday evening that she had smelled an “overwhelming” amount of exhaust inside the store the day before which had been coming from construction vehicles outside.
At that time, a deputy fire chief spoke with the manager on duty and advised him to install a carbon monoxide detector in the area where the odor had been observed.
Hart reports that the store was evacuated while firefighters ventilated the building until instruments were no long able to detect the presence of the gas.
City police were dispatched to assist the firefighters.
Store manager Scott Ring said that the store was closed for “about 30 minutes” and said that it was the first such incident in his experience.
