Emergency services respond to an incident involving chemicals at Plant and Food Research. Photo: RNZ / Rayssa Almeida
Workers from Plant and Food Research institute in Auckland's Mount Albert had to evacuate today after a chemical odour triggered the fire alarm about a 12.45pm.
Ten fire trucks responded to the call, alongside a Hato Hone St John ambulance and two police cars.
Firefighters have since left the scene.
A worker from the institute, who RNZ agreed not to name, said she heard about the incident from an emergency email.
"I got an email from work saying that this happened. We also have a group chat and some of our colleagues sent the video of the fire trucks coming through.
"I was off-site, I was on the field today since 6am, so I didn't know what was going on."
She said she also received an email from the day care centre looking after her two children.
"The day care is right next to the [research] building, so they saw everything.
"They emailed us advising the kids were safe."
Workers could not access their vehicles while emergency services were on-site, she said.
"I went out early in the morning with the [company] car to the field, but I couldn't bring it back because of the closure.
"A lot of people got taxis home, because our cars stayed inside the building and we could not get in."
Fire and Emergency said it worked with partner-agencies to contain the situation.
"Crews have since confirmed there is no risk and have handed the site back to owners," a spokesperson said.