BERGEN, N.Y. — Neighbors in Bergen are upset over how they were notified during a shelter-in-place order for an ammonia leak.
RELATED: Shelter-in-place lifted in the Village of Bergen after ammonia leak at canning factory (June 17)
Some neighbors said they were not happy updates came only from the county emergency management office’s social media pages instead of mass alert text or call systems. One person heard what happened from an email from the school district.
“We’ve got to use as many of those resources as we can to get the message out to everybody. Even though we try, there’s always some people that are missed, and that’s what’s unfortunate. And that’s why we’ve got to go back and reinvestigate,” said Timothy Yaeger, director of the Genesee County Office of Emergency Management. “If we are missing people, why are we missing them? And how do we do better in the future to make sure that everyone is notified?”
Yaeger, said the county is working with the Village of Bergen on reviewing the notification process. In a statement, village mayor Mike Fleming said there is not a text or messaging notification system set up, but the village is looking to find better systems for those without internet access.
Read Fleming’s full statement:
“Currently, there is no text or messaging notification system set up. We are looking into better systems for residents without internet access. I’m aware of several notification systems, but we need to gather further information. We are setting up a meeting with GC Emergency Management Services to review yesterday’s events and determine how to handle future emergencies and notifications. We’ll include our Village Board members along with input from the community.”
Yaeger said gaps still exist in keeping people in the know, including if neighbors choose to turn off notifications completely or miss them elsewhere.
“I don’t think maybe the notification was enough because I just seen it scrolling through and maybe some older people who aren’t on social media, they might not be aware unless there was some kind of protocol site where people in the town were notified,” said Sheryl O’Shea, a volunteer at Crossroads House Collectibles.
The communications report from the county’s emergency management office breaks down its performance on digital platforms starting when the shelter-in-place order was implemented until it was lifted. Yaeger said despite the strong numbers, it needs a multi-pronged approach.
Adobe Scan Jun 18, 2026 (1)Download“I’ve had instances where two people are standing next to each other, one gets a notification, the other doesn’t. So we’re going to continue, we’re going to, this is just another reason for us to go back and look at what we have for notification systems,” Yaeger said.
The Nortera Foods factory is back to normal operations, but the plant manager would not let News10 inside. As we have reported, this is not the first ammonia leak at Nortera Foods.
The DEC said the facility will report what caused the leak, provide repair plans and steps to minimize risks of it happening again.
Read the full statement from the DEC
“On June 17, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) responded with local, county and state agencies to an ammonia leak in Bergen. The incident was resolved by early yesterday evening.
DEC does not regulate the equipment used in refrigeration systems, such as compressors. In many cases, the storage of the ammonia for refrigeration systems is not regulated by DEC as it is part of a closed loop process, rather than a stand-alone storage system. DEC asked the facility to provide a summary report detailing what caused the release, the repairs that will be made, and steps that can be taken to prevent (or minimize) this from happening in the future.”
Bergen neighbors upset over handling of emergency alerts after Wednesday’s shelter-in-place WHEC.com.
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