Care home residents flee chemical leak

ELDERLY residents at a city care home had to flee their bedrooms in the middle of the night after a chemical leak.

Nine pensioners were led from their rooms after ammonia leaked from a fridge at Clermiston House in Parkgrove Terrace. Two members of staff at the council-run home had to be taken to hospital with breathing difficulties.

The fire service described how the residents were evacuated after the alarm was raised at 4.14am.

A spokeswoman said: “It was a leak of pressurised ammonia from a domestic fridge. Residents were evacuated to their day care centre.

“Firefighters used two breathing apparatus to vent the premises, removed the fridge and cleaned up the spillage.”

It had all been dealt with by 5.23am.

Three female members of staff, all believed to be in their 50s, were treated for breathing difficulties. Two of them were taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for further treatment.

A council spokesman said nine residents at the 40-bed home had been moved from their rooms to the lounge after the leak was discovered.

He said: “In any kind of incident, the normal procedure is to get people up and into one safe place.

“They were allowed to go back to their beds as soon as the fire brigade left.”