Ammonia leak near Fresno school triggers shelter-in-place, early dismissal

Students at Monroe Elementary spent Monday morning in shelter-in-place mode after an ammonia leak at the Vie-Del Fruit Processor and Winery at Chestnut and Nebraska avenues forced fire crews, school staff and parents into a fast-moving response near the Fresno County campus.

Fire crews were called to the industrial site just before 9:30 a.m. after the leak was reported across the street from Monroe Elementary, which sits at 11842 South Chestnut Avenue in Fresno. Students stayed inside while firefighters worked to shut off the valve that caused the release and waited for the ammonia to dissipate before declaring the area safe. The school later released students around lunchtime to parents and guardians, and school was scheduled to reopen the next day.

About 50 Vie-Del employees were evacuated and waited down the street until they could safely return. Fresno Fire HazMat crews later confirmed the leak had stopped and said the plant could resume normal operations. The response kept the incident from spreading further, but it also underscored how quickly a chemical release at one business can disrupt a neighboring school day in a corridor where homes, classrooms, agriculture and food processing sit close together.

Vie-Del Company says it was founded in 1946 and is family-owned and operated by the Nury family. Its Fresno headquarters is at 11903 S. Chestnut Avenue, placing the business directly on the same Chestnut Avenue stretch as Monroe Elementary. School directory records list Danita Ramos as principal, and school profile data show Monroe serves about 192 students with roughly 11 full-time teachers.

Caruthers Unified School District says its mission includes maintaining a safe and healthy school environment, a promise that was put to the test as staff sheltered students inside during the leak. The episode also fits a familiar pattern in the Central Valley, where ammonia emergencies at agricultural and food-processing facilities have prompted similar responses before. A November 2024 leak at Pitman Farms in Sanger led to a shelter-in-place, employee evacuation and a Fresno Fire HazMat response, and a 2017 ammonia leak at E.J. Gallo Winery in Fresno also forced an evacuation.