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Six fire units, including the HAZMAT company, responded to the downtown Hilo Sack N Save supermarket Tuesday afternoon.
Because of the store’s proximity to the Hilo Central Fire Station, it took just a minute for the first unit to arrive on scene after the 3:30 p.m. alarm of white smoke in the store.
There were no signs of heat or fire, nor were there any complaints of illness or injury.
The store was safely evacuated, and the source of the white haze turned out to be Freon gas escaping from a damaged refrigerator system compressor.
The store was closed to complete repairs and reopened this morning.