APEX, N.C.-
Authorities asked about 16,000 residents to evacuate this Raleigh suburb early Friday after a hazardous material fire at an industrial plant.
No injuries were immediately reported, although a spokeswoman for Rex Hospital in Raleigh said the hospital expected to receive as many as 11 people needing oxygen.
Officials said the fire started around 10 p.m. Thursday at EQ Industrial Services, a hazardous waste business that town manager Bruce Radford said contained a variety of volatile chemicals, including chlorine.
He said when he arrived at the scene, a chlorine cloud rose 50 feet in the air. He estimated that 20 to 30 explosions had occurred at the plant.
“This is truly awful,” he said early Friday. “It is the worst potential hazardous materials fire that you can expect.”
The evacuation order generally covered the west side of Apex, located about 10 miles southwest of Raleigh. Authorities opened a shelter at an elementary school on the town’s east side, and Radford said it would be safe to take shelter at hotels in nearby Cary.
He said Friday classes in Apex schools were cancelled.
Radford said some residents who live near the fire had not heeded the evacuation order. He begged them to get away from what he called a “black, smokey cloud” that was covering downtown Apex.
“They are taking their own lives at risk,” Radford said. “They are putting themselves in very grave danger by being around this smoke.”
The fire forced officials to evacuate the town’s 911 center and fire department.
“We’re not even being able to get close to it because of the heat and the contaminate materials,” Radford said.
“I’ve been hearing what sounds like fireworks–popping sounds,” said Gabrielle Fisher, 25, an Apex resident who lives about a mile from the blaze. “I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m getting out of here,”
The Web site for EQ Industrial Services says the company operates a fleet of specialized industrial cleaning equipment to deal with both hazardous and non-hazardous wastes.
EQ officials were on site and assessing the situation, said a man who answered the phone at the company’s emergency response headquarters in Ypsilanti, Mich. He declined to give his name or elaborate.
“It’s quite scary,” said Apex resident Andrew Smith, who lives about a mile west of the fire, just outside the evacuation zone. “The sky is definitely lit up. We can see a big column of smoke and occasionally flashes of light from explosions.”
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