Substance spill behind Mill Woods mall evacuation Thursday: EFRS

Mill Woods Town Centre was evacuated Thursday afternoon after a chemical spill filled a store with smoke.

Edmonton Fire Rescue Services arrived at the mall minutes after 12:00 p.m. to reports of a fire.

No fire was located, EFRS told CTV News Edmonton, but a large amount of smoke was seen coming from the LensCrafters suite.

"The mall was evacuated as a precaution as our Hazmat team works on cleaning up a substance spill in the LensCrafters' lab," said Brittany Eveneshen, EFRS spokesperson, in a statement.

Terri Andrianopoulos, RioCan Real Estate spokesperson, said the mall safely reopened after 2:15 p.m., with the LensCrafters remaining closed to visitors. Approximately 1,200 people were at the southeast mall at the time of the evacuation.

Tricia Young, who was working at a different store in the mall, recalled seeing a commotion outside the LensCrafters.

"We were just checking it out," Young said. "We could see it filling out with smoke… (It looked like) it was something in the back."

"Then the fire department showed up," she added.

Two people were taken to hospital as a precaution.

As investigators continue to probe the scene, there is no word on what the spilled substance was.