Liquid Nitrogen Leak at Modern Industries/Erie, PA, USA

Now this is a rather eerie picture (pun intended). In Erie PA, Modern Industries is both a manufacturer and a commercial heat treater, as a matter of fact probably the largest commercial heat treater in the area. Recently they had a small nitrogen leak which produced this rather unreal photo; 

“At approximately 8:30pm on the night of April 15th 2019 a pipe connecting our exterior Liquid Nitrogen storage tank ruptured and started leaking.  This fault happened near the shutoff valve for the unit, which froze open, so we allowed the tank to empty into our parking lot and onto 12th street. The nitrogen gas that was released from the tank was not harmful to the people nearby or the environment. The fog, while cool looking and was harmless, caused the Erie Fire Department/HAZMAT team to close off 12th street for a couple hours until it dissipated. As the temperature of liquid nitrogen rises it is converted to nitrogen, which is the gas most plentiful in our atmosphere. We already have a repair crew out working to fix the problem. There is expected to be minimal interruptions to our customers as we make the needed repairs.”