Jan. 22, 2004
By Bill Montgomery, Marcia Langhenry And Paul Kaplan, Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer
Smoke billowing from a warehouse fire at a Forsyth County chemical firm Thursday caused authorities to close Ga. 400 for two hours and evacuate schools and businesses within a half-mile of the blaze.
The fire, at Branch Drive at McFarland Road, was reported at 7:35 a.m. in a 10,000-square-foot building at the Regal Chemical Plant, which makes fertilizer and pesticides, said assistant county administrator Dane Perry.
Perry said there were no reports of injuries. "We believe there was some kind of explosion, and there were people on the scene, but they evacuated safely," Perry said.
Firefighters "are letting the fire burn itself out, because we're not sure of the potential danger of putting water on it," Perry said. "We don't have a full inventory of the chemicals in the building, so we don't want to take chances on how some might react to water," he added.
Forsyth County Deputy Fire Chief Dwight Clark said that while the cause of the fire is still uncertain, a malfunctioning oven might be to blame. Workers were processing chemicals in an oven and Clark said the thermostat had possibly failed, causing it to overheat and explode.
The smoke contained ammonium nitrate and potassium nitrate, both of which are mixed with other ingredients to make fertilizer, said fire officials on the scene.
Forsyth County Fire Chief Danny Bowman said at 11:30 a.m. today that crews will maintain watch on the burning warehouse though the day and into the night.
"There's still a good deal smoke in the area, and I expect it will be Friday morning before we'll be able to send investigators in to determine the cause," Bowman said.
Bowman said no firefighters were treated for breathing or other difficulties from the smoke.
Buildings within a half-mile radius of the warehouse were evacuated "as a precaution due to the content of the smoke, but fortunately the area between McFarland Road and Ga. 400 is largely industrial," Perry said.
Five schools located within five miles of the fire were given orders to keep their students indoors and to close all doors and windows, said David Adams, director of school safety for Forsyth County schools.
The schools, Big Creek Elementary, Vickery Elementary and Middle schools, Midway Elementary and South Forsyth High School, dismissed at normal times Thursday. School officials said the schools have full-time nurses on staff, but no one had complained of any health problems.
At one school, Big Creek Elementary, the air intake was ordered shut off because that school was closest to the plume of spoke from the fire, Adams said.
By 1 p.m., the schools were given the all-clear signal.
"The fire department told us to have the principals at the five schools go outside at 1 p.m. and see if the smelled any smoke," Adams said. "If not, the principals were allowed to return to normal activities."
There was a sea of mini-vans outside Big Creek Elementary as students poured out Thursday afternoon, but it was a calm sea.
Virginia Tolleson came to pick up her first-grader Sam.
"Was I concerned? Sure," Tolleson said.
Tolleson said she trusted the school administrator to do the right thing in an emergency.
"Everyone can't just rush up here and get their child," she said. "You put faith in your school, but [the fire] is disturbing."
Allison Bronk was waiting for her second-grader James.
"I could see the smoke but it looked pretty far away," said Bronk. "I called the school and the administrator said it was fine. They took my cellphone number and said they would call if school was cancelled. There was no panic."
Moments later James came bounding out of the school and into the mini-van.
"Mom!" he said excitedly, "We were on Action News!"
Was he scared?
"No," James said.
Fulton County Schools spokeswoman Susan Hale said Fulton schools were close enough to the smoke to be affected.
At one of the closest housing developments to the fire, residents did not seem too concerned about the smoke billowing about two miles away.
Tom Tenney, a homeowner in Windward subdivision, said he "saw black billowing smoke" as he drove to work on Ga. 400 a little before 8 a.m. Thursday.
"I listened on the radio but they didn't say it was dangerous," Tenney said around lunchtime.
Mailman Antonio Berrios was making his rounds in Windward around 1:30 p.m. He said supervisors had warned mail carriers in the affected area that they might have to find alternate routes to deliver the mail. He said there was "no discussion of possible dangers."
Laurie Wood, deputy director of Forsyth County Emergency Management Agency, said she had a list of the chemicals that were inside Regal Chemical, but would not name them.
"For security reasons, I won't release the full list, just the types," she said.
Wood said the building contained dry fertilizer and herbicide.
Businesses that work with a large quantity of some chemicals must file a report with EPD, so Regal had a list on file, said Wood.
The first firefighters to arrive did put some water on the fire -- a 750-gal tanker was emptied immediately -- but firefighters decided to quit using water before potentially-polluted runoff could run into a nearby stream.
The site has numerous streams and officials said water samples taken from the streams this afternoon were clear.
Heavy smoke blowing in the direction of Ga. 400 caused authorities to shut the highway north and southbound from McFarland Road to Peachtree Parkway around 8:15 a.m. The busy commuter highway was reopened around 10:15 a.m., said Miles Butler, Forsyth 911 director. Smoke continued to pour from the building at 11 a.m.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/northfulton/0104/22fire.html