Toxic Cloud From Plant Explosion Forces Thousands To Evacuate

Explosions at a hazardous waste plant released a toxic cloud that has forced the evacuation of half the residents of Apex North Carolina. Gases and flames were reported to have been 150 feet in the air over the town.



Officials are not sure what started the fire that led to the explosions... I just hope that no one is injured and that all the fire fighters can do thier job safely.

Hi--

Thanks for posting this one--I have friends down there and was going to post it myself.

I'll add a little from a local source. This HAZMAT facility, according to them, takes in paint and industrial solvents. The major effluents from this blaze was Chlorine Gas and Toxic Hydrocarbons. According to the HAZMAT Officials, they could only contain this blaze, as Water and Foam only aggrivate a fire like this. At this posting, the cause of the fire is unknown, and the plant was closed for the day--no one on the premisis. Schools are closed in the Apex area today, and the entire area smells faintly of Chlorine.

This incident is an ecological disaster, and Wake County has declared an Emergency in order to get Fed help for the cleanup.

Now help me out here - some one on this site posted about helicopters over a chemical storage site - Is it this site? and do you know of any strange sightings in the area?

Must be bad if they could only contain it and not fight the fire... sounds like a real bad saftey issue there alone! and as for it being built in a city... thats just silly!

This is also being discussed here: ATS

It is interesting how conclusions are drawn by different news organizations with limited information.

Last I heard, they don't know exactly what, other than chlorine was in the explosions/fire. It could be oxidizers (whatever they are), stuff from the petroleum facilities next door, sulfur-based pesticides, etc. In fact, I just listened to an interview from Robert Doyle, a spokesperson for the company, and THEY don't even know what it could be in there burning. There are apparently several possibilities, although he did note that they have given lists to EPA.

Meanwhile, the irony here is this facility's purpose is to recycle hazardous waste, and here it is now spewing out all this garbage. Tsk Tsk.

As I noted in the other thread, though, no surprise, but the news seems to be making it out to be worse than it is.

For example, when they just say that 17,000 people have been evacuated, you start to think of some Katrina-like catastrophe that forces people to go very far from home. Not so here. They are going to elementary schools like 5 miles away. Not that big a deal. Also, some of these dummies have refused to leave their homes. Unlike major evacs, they haven't been forced out, so far as I know. Then again, maybe the town of Apex is more pragmatic then others. Perhaps they’ve decided that if folks want to sit at home in a cloud of death, so be it.

The point is, it doesn’t really seem as bad as the news is making it out to be. I’m honestly shocked that this is national news.