Photos of ‘hazardous material incident’ in Haywards Heath: building evacuated after reports of chemical odour

At 8.28pm on Monday, West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service announced on Twitter that they were dealing with a ‘suspected hazardous materials incident’ in Cedar Way.

They said: “A building has been evacuated as a safety precaution and firefighters are carrying out investigations with partners from Sussex Police and SECAmb. The hazard is believed to be confined to one address.”

At 10.20pm on Monday the fire service said they had scaled back the operation following the containment of the materials and said remaining crews were working with gas engineers at the site.

On Tuesday morning, August 8, a WSFRS spokesperson told the Middy: “We were called at 4.49pm on Monday 7 August to reports of a chemical odour within a property on Cedar Way in Haywards Heath. Joint Fire Control mobilised three fire engines to the scene along with the Breathing Apparatus Support Unit, the Incident Command Unit, and a Detection Identification and Monitoring vehicle from Surrey FRS.”

They added that SECAmb’s Hazardous Area Response Team, also attended the incident.

The spokesperson said: “A safety cordon was put in place to allow emergency service staff to work safely and a number of neighbouring properties were evacuated while investigations were carried out. Residents living within the vicinity were urged to keep their windows and doors closed.

“Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus conducted a number of tests and no hazardous materials were found. The gas supply was isolated and SGN were requested to carry out further tests. After extensive testing, the last fire crew left the scene shortly after 11pm.”

Sussex Police have also been contacted for a statement.