Building evacuated in Lawrence

Elevated levels of carbon monoxide that emanated from a malfunctioning forklift caused the evacuation of Krystal Foods, a food shipping company, located at 220 Lawrence Ave, in Lawrence on Monday after 3 p.m.

The Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department received a call that employees of the company smelled an odor that had caused several of them to have headaches or become nauseous, said Joseph Sperber, chief of the LCFD.

“The fire department evacuated the building and had crews with self contained breathing apparatus go in,” Sperber said. “They detected extremely high levels of carbon monoxide.”

Medical crews took seven employees to local hospitals, including two of the more serious individuals to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow. Eight employees were treated at the scene.

The building was ventilated to reduce the elevated levels. Lawrence Avenue between Wanser and Bayview avenues was shutdown to traffic during the evacuation.

Hewlett, Inwood, Woodmere and Valley Stream fire departments responded to the scene. Meadowmere Fire Department served as the covering department. Nassau County police were on the scene as well as the county Fire Marshall.