TWO people needed hospital treatment after a chemical scare at Essex University.

Cleaners smelled ammonia as they entered the computer suite, on the main campus of the Wivenhoe-based university, at about 6.45am yesterday.

Some of the staff immediately evacuated the building and dialled 999.

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service sent four fire engines, the rescue tender and three fire service managers to the scene.

Firefighters cordoned off the building, before donning airtight protective gas suits to search the building for anyone left inside.

Incident commander Neil Holloway said: “We had about 20 fire personnel on scene at the height of the incident.

“We couldn’t be certain there was no one inside the building, so we sent firefighters in gas-tight suits inside to check.

“They came across two people on the fourth floor who had been affected by ammonia and led them to safety. They were passed into the care of the ambulance service.”

Joy Hale, of the East of England Ambulance Service, confirmed they had sent three ambulances and an operations manager to the university.

Firefighters were on the scene for more than three hours searching for the source of the leak.

Mr Holloway said: “We were alerted by the cleaners, which immediately concerned us in case two chemicals had mixed together.

“We eventually tracked the smell to a small fridge from which the smell was emanating.

“We ventilated the building and put two buckets of water in the room to soak it up.”

The university will now dispose of the fridge.