Incident at Sainsbury’s, Longbridge
Several people have reported feeling unwell at a Sainsbury's store on Longbridge Lane.
Longbridge Ln, Birmingham B31 2TW, UK
Shortly before 10am on Friday 20 May we were alerted to an incident at the Sainsbury’s supermarket on High Street, Longbridge, Birmingham. A number of people had reported feeling unwell, with apparent breathing difficulties. Two fire engines and one of our 4×4 Brigade Response vehicles responded, from Northfield and Kings Norton fire stations, together with a number of officers and colleagues from the police and ambulance services. The first crew was at the scene within three minutes of being mobilised. The store had been evacuated before we arrived. A 50-metre cordon was put in place around the store. Other premises within the cordon were also evacuated.
Updates for this incident
Two people who were in the store have been taken to hospital. Our specialist officers are using air monitoring equipment inside the store to try to establish the cause of the incident. We are working closely with the store management, as well as our ambulance and police colleagues and Birmingham City Council. Around 150 people were evacuated from the store. A nearby college building was not evacuated, but advised to keep windows closed as a precaution.
High Street will shortly be reopened. The cordon is being reduced to include only Sainsbury’s. The store will remain closed for the time being pending our ongoing investigations.
We have now left the scene after carrying out extensive checks. Our detection equipment has highlighted nothing of concern. Sainsbury’s and their own engineers will be carrying out further investigations before making a decision on reopening the store.
Unless otherwise indicated, all incident imagery and media displayed by West Midlands Fire Service is subject to a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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