Friday, October 6, 2006
- Background: Apex fire spreads toxic gas.
- Evacuation area
- Green Hope High School is operating as a shelter for evacuees. All other shelters (Turner Creek Elementary, Olive Chapel Elementary) are now closed.
- Non-emergency inquiries: call 919-856-7044. DO NOT CALL 911 except for emergencies.
- Plant company offering assistance/compensation to displaced residents for expenses incurred during evacuation: 1-888-675-1680.
- My house is about a mile outside the outer limit of the evacuation area. We took precautions but did not need to evacuate.
- Saturday 9:45 AM
- Parts of the evacuation area have re-opened, and most residents are returning home in phases throughout Saturday morning. The immediate area around the plant is still closed indefinitely. … Cause of fire is still unknown. … Residents who are concerned about chemical residue should wash their clothes and linens thoroughly, change all HVAC filters, wipe down all counters and surfaces with mild soap and water, wash all baby toys, and bathe pets. Pets who show symptoms of exposure (listed below) should be taken to a vet ASAP.
- 10:45 PM
- Fire is still burning and may continue to burn until tomorrow morning. However, some residents have been cleared to go home (Haddon Hall residents only, appparently because it is close enough to the edge of the evacuation zone and the zone has been shrunk slightly). … State of emergency is still in effect; anyone caught in downtown Apex will be arrested on sight.
- 5 PM
- Highways have reopened bordering the evacuation area. No “all clear” signal yet. 4 small fires still burning after 17 hours of “just letting it burn.” Still no word on what chemicals are burning. Still no word on when residents will be allowed to return home. Red Cross has arrived to provide assistance at shelter. … Town Manager: “This is the worst possible hazardous materials incident you could have.” … Investigators from U.S. Technical Safety Board are headed to the scene.
- 1 PM
- Taking a break. Local coverage: CBS, ABC, NBC, News & Observer.
- 12:55 PM
- Latest reports from air quality monitors show no problems.
- 12:45 PM
- Reporter @ WakeMed: 34 people have come in. None by ambulance. Of 34, only 4 remain being treated. 2 of those 4 are police officers. Not admitted, just being checked out. …
WakeMed Chief of Medicine: expecting a trickle of more people complaining of symptoms. If you think you’ve been exposed, please come in and get checked out.
- 12:40 PM
- Amtrak update: Silver Star trains (91 & 92) will bypass 3 stops: Raleigh, Southern Pines, & Cary. Passengers will be bussed from Rocky Mount and Hamlet.
- 12:30 PM
- Reporter: hazmat crews having difficulty assessing the fire because the building where the fire started has collapsed. “In a holding pattern” until they can complete their work.
- 12:25 PM
- Mayor: I was not aware until this morning that there had been previous compliance problems at this location. “We’ll be having an internal briefing at 1:30 PM, so as soon as that’s completed we’ll be coming out and talking to you again.”
- 12:20 PM
- Fire chief: “we can not do anything with the exclusionary zone until the fire is out.” (That means nobody’s going home yet.) … [re: fighting the fire itself] “We have two options: we can either use unmanned monitors with straight water. Of course that creates a run-off issue. Our other option is using AFFF, a firefighters foam for chemical fires, which reduces the water run-off. We have both of those capabilities on-site standing by at this time.”
Mayor: [re: drinking water] “This spill happened in the Neuse River basin and we draw our water from the Cape Fear basin which is Lake Jordan. So let me assure anyone that has any concern about the quality of the drinking water that may be affected by hazardous chemicals, there’s absolutely no reason to have any concern in that regard, because we are drawing our water from Lake Jordan which could not possibly have been impacted by the spill.”
- 12:15 PM
- Mayor: We had a total of 13 police officers exposed to the chemicals and required medical treatment. All 13 have now been discharged from hospital and are back on duty or will be very soon. … Green Hope shelter will allow people to stay overnight if necessary. … Had lengthy conversation with president of EQ (plant company) and will release a statement soon. Company intends to offer assistance to displaced residents: 1-888-675-1680. … EPA officials did a proximity review; that plus hazmat crew’s assessment, initial reports that petroleum tanks had exploded is “probably not true. … There were some explosions, but they were probably not petroleum.” … No evidence of any toxic residue in downtown Apex or anywhere else. … “I feel that officials anticipated everything that could reasonably be anticipated.”
- 12:10 PM
- Apex fire chief: “we immediately started door-to-door evacuation in the initial hazard area. The situation expanded exponentially. We then activated the county’s reverse 911 system, which automatically called a determined grid area based on the plume path. … As soon as we could, we got messages on all local TV stations. Based on the travel path of the plume, we opted to shelter some people in their homes. If we had evacuated them they would have moved right into [the plume]. So it was a much safer option to shelter them in place. When we did the reverse 911 message, we identified those areas and placed a message on there to tell them how to safely shelter in place.” [question about people who never got the reverse 911 call] “That’s very possible, because based on the way the plume was going, we had a definitive wind pattern. It was taking the plume in one direction. We opted not to take and expand in the reverse direction behind our command post. That’s probably why they did not get notified. They were never in a hazardous area.” … Feels the reverse 911 system was very effective, based on the number of shelters. … Firefighters moved their command post 4 times during the night trying to stay out of the path of the plume. … “We do have a list of chemicals that were housed in that facility. We do not know which chemicals are burning at this time. That’s what we’re trying to determine with our reconnaissance.”
- 12:05 PM
- Secretary of Crime Control & Public Safety: investigations are coming to see if the company was in compliance with all safety regulations and whether they kept the Town of Apex informed as required. Still no word on when refugees can return home. Confirmed that post-9/11 planning helped coordination of first responders. Wake County is one of the first counties in the state to have an interoperable communications system, “Viper 800 MHz system.” Wake County is on it [the system], the highway patrol, Raleigh Fire, Apex city, Garner, and many other agencies.
- 12 noon
- Rep. David Price (D-NC) on now. Longer term questions about the hazards posed by chemical storage facilities. In the meantime, the community has done a wonderful job pulling together.
- 11:55 AM
- Apex mayor (live): “level of cooperation [between agencies] has been extraordinary.” Hazmat team has left the site. Building where explosions occurred has collapsed. … All clear signal coming “hopefully soon”. Dogs and cats will experience similar symptoms to humans; if you see these symptoms in your pet, take them to a vet ASAP. … Hazmat team will send in handheld thermal cameras around and through the glass to find where fire is still burning, to help determine how to fight it.
- 11:50 AM
- Green Hope shelter is not allowing pets. If you are evacuating, you must leave them at home or find other shelter for them.
- 11:40 AM
- The company is allowed to store anything defined as hazardous waste at this plant, but that’s such a wide range that it’s not immediately helpful. … Still waiting on hazmat crews to come back from plant.
- 11:35 AM
- New update from Division of Air Quality officer: no air quality problems detected as of 11:30 AM. Air quality monitors set up all around hot zone. Not expecting situation to get worse unless there are new/secondary explosions. Still no official word from company about what chemicals were involved in fire besides chlorine. No one can find the “list of materials” that lists exactly what chemicals were being stored. Have historical records but they’re useless because, due to the nature of the plant, the list of chemicals on-site changes all the time.
- 11:30 AM
- Serious concern about pets that were not evacuated.
- 11:25 AM
- Chlorine gas effects: chest pain, vomiting, coughing, difficulty breathing, excess fluid in lungs. Anchor: no evacuation planned or Holly Springs residents.
- 11:20 AM
- News is slowing to a trickle. Now interviewing local residents at shelters, background material about hazmat suits, weather reports. Shelter @ Green Hope High School is set up to house 593 people.
- 11:15 AM
- Crime Control & Public Safety official: Hazmat crews have entered the “hot zone” and are determining what chemicals are still in the air. No impact in surrounding counties. Highway patrol is directing traffic around affected area.
- 11:10 AM
- Reporter @ WakeMed Hospital: nearly 12 hours after explosions, no reports of serious injuries. 1 firefighter, 8 police officers, and 12 area residents treated, all now released except 2 police officers. 100 people evacuated from area nursing home, 23 moved to Rex Hospital. Hospital is fully staffed. Earlier this morning, police set up a decon tent outside the hospital with decon shower before people brought into hospital, first responders were decontaminated but no one has needed the decon tent since. Awaiting word of long-term effects of these chemicals.
- 11:05 AM
- Evacuation area unchanged. Photo slideshow of plant. Green Hope Shelter running well, no shortages, have enough food and cots. Gym has rows and rows of cots already set up. Cafeteria is open for feeding refugees. No word on how long people will need to be in the shelter, no word on when it will be safe to go back to the evacuated area.
- 10:55 AM
- Schools closed: Apex Elementary, Apex Middle, Apex High, Baucom Elementary, olive Chapel Elementary, Turner Creek, Lufkin Road Middle, Bright Horizons, St Mary Magdalene School, goddard School, Primrose School fo West cary, Apex Enrichment Center, Triangle Academy Preschool, Mariposa School, Carolinda Kids Academy. Downtown Apex is a ghost town: no cars, no people, nothing.
- 10:50 AM
- TV is back. All Apex schools are closed today. Stay of emergency declared in Apex and Wake County. Patients from Rex Rehabilitation and Nursing Care have been moved to Wake Med Cary. All businesses in downtown Apex are closed today.
- 10:45 AM
- I have lost DirecTV signal.
- 10:40 AM
- Reporter: latest update: lots of coordination with different agencies. State water quality officials testing local rivers and streams. Others checking air quality, still good. Hazmat teams on-site at plant, no word from them yet. Raleigh police is here, highway patrol is here, sheriff’s deputies, everybody has converged and are coordinating. Post-9/11 emergency response plans coming into play now.
More company info: fined $32,000 in March 2006 at this location. failed to reduce possibility of release of hazardous waste. Failed to carry out contingency plan. But passed latest safety inspection in late September.
Area hotels are completely full. Officials urge people to stay away from Salem Street, Industrial Drive, and Investment Blvd. in Apex.
- 10:35 AM
- Wake County public safety director: “evacuation area” has lots of padding already, if you are just outside the marked area and have no symptoms, you should not go anywhere. … May need to set up blockades to prevent run-off of infected water. HMHTTC Response team official: best case is fire can be extinguished quickly, worst case this may burn on for a few more days.
- 10:30 AM
- Officials urging people not to call 911 except for actual emergencies. Non-emergency callers should dial 362-8661 in Apex or 469-4012 in Cary. Firefighters hesitant to fight fire because they are still not sure what chemicals are in the fire. Hazmat crew going in now and will be able to determine what chemicals are involved. Fire has now been burning for over 12 hours. “Toxic cloud” seen initially has dissipated but hazmat crews unsure whether area puddles and grounds are affected.
- 10:25 AM
- Subdivisions evacuated: Briarcliff, Sunny Meadows, Shepards Vineyard, haddon Hall, Waterford Green, Knollwood, and Sterling at Buckingham. More than 16,000 people evacuated. Vapor cloud has moved to the area around highways 64 and 55. Most roads in Apex are closed, but highgway 55 has been reopened. 9 police officers and 1 firefighter were treated for breathing problems. Half of those have been released. As many as 20 to 30 explosions were heard.
- 10:20 AM
- ~300 firefighters are on the scene, but they are allowing the fire to burn itself out. Stay away from downtown Apex. Evacuation area expanded, bordered by highways 55, 64, and US-1. Green Hope principal: “we will try to provide a facility that is safe and where people can rest and take care of basic needs.”
- 10:15 AM
- N&O reports that more than 15,000 residents have been evacuated. State of emergency declared. Turner Creek Elementary School can not take any more people. Olive Chapel shelter will close at lunch. All routed to Green Hope High School @ 2500 Carpenter Upchurch Road.
- 10:10 AM
- Reporter: “All things considered, we’re in a best-case scenario.”. Company spokesman for EQ Industrial: fire started at 10 PM last night. Cause of fire unknown. Confirmed: no employees on-site when fire began, all left by 7 PM. “We follow all safety procedures, we are ISO-certified.” Etc etc.
- 10:05 AM
- Green Hope High School set up as a shelter. Reporter @ school: Turner Creek and Olive Chapel Elementary School were previous shelters; all refugees now being moved to Green Hope High School. First full-service facility (means there’s a sleeping area, kitchen, medical room, recreational area for kids, shower facilities in locker rooms). Still setting up.
Other reporter: hazmat crews at site all night, new crews being rotated in. Initial tests on air quality do not show anything alarming. Thanks mostly to rain all night and all day. Rain is “scrubbing chemicals out of the air”. Now primary concern is that the chemicals are on the ground, draining on asphalt, draining into ground, draining into water supply. Waiting on further hazmat results.
- 10 AM
- Company: The Environmental Quality Company. Fined earlier this year for safety violations. Required to be inspected 4 times a month. Most recent inspection found no safety violations (9/28). Company employs 20-25 people. No employees in plant when fire began.
- 9:55 AM
- Thousands evacuated from Apex. Taped video interview. Plant location on Google Maps
- 9:50 AM
- Evacuation area. Live local TV coverage. Anchor: Hazmat team from Raleigh about to go into site to assess. Rain continuing throughout day, best thing that could happen.
- 9:45 AM
- Reporter @ WakeMed hospital: 32 people treated for possible chemical exposure, only 5 remain in hospital being treated. 8 police officers, 1 firefighter. 6 officers released already. Chlorine exposure symptoms: trouble breathing, nauseous, dizziness, chest thightness, burning sesnsation in nose/throat/eyes, watery eyes, blurred vision. Extra teams on standby at all area hospitals.
- 9:40 AM
- Apex mayor: Firefighters are going through decon treatment. No serious injury reports yet.
- 9:35 AM
- Town manager: people who have not evacuated should stay in their homes, close all doors and windows, and shut down their HVAC system.
Filed under apex, emergency, evacuation, fire, local
How local is this to you? Are you an evacuee?
Comment by Henri Sivonen — Friday, October 6, 2006 @ 11:05 am
Ah. Locked in with no birth control again?
Comment by Jesper — Friday, October 6, 2006 @ 11:10 am
My house is about a mile outside the outer limit of the evacuation area.
Comment by Mark — Friday, October 6, 2006 @ 11:15 am
FWIW, EPA has a huge presence in RTP,
- National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory
- National Exposure Research Laboratory
- Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards
God’s likely drilling them!
Comment by ChemicalGuy — Friday, October 6, 2006 @ 1:00 pm
Hey Mark, my house is right next to Olive Chapel Elementary where one of the shelter sites was. I stopped off earlier to buy a few gallons of water (just in case).
Comment by Lance — Friday, October 6, 2006 @ 3:51 pm
Thanks for all the updates. Take care and keep your windows closed!
Comment by myddrin — Friday, October 6, 2006 @ 4:12 pm
Q1. Who owns EQ?
Q2. Exactly which chemicals were stored in this facility?
Q3. What will this do to the real estate values in Apex?
Q4. What similar facilities are in and around Raleigh, and what are their locations?
Q5. Who issued the permit for this facility?
Q6. Why isn’t anyone asking these questions?
Comment by Bob — Sunday, October 8, 2006 @ 2:44 pm
This doesn’t actually answer Bob’s question, but it’s still interesting information:
http://www.scorecard.org/env-releases/search.tcl?city=apex&state=NC
Unfortunately, the site doesn’t seem to have had any meaningful updates in the past two years.
Comment by michael bernstein — Sunday, October 8, 2006 @ 3:36 pm
I heard about this on the news, I hope you are alright and were able to make it away from the chemical cloud. I also heard the plant failed several past inspections for variuos safety violations. I pray that everyone that was effected by this chemical fire will be okay and those that are passed are taken care of by there gods.What s terrible trajedy for the nation and the world.
Comment by ashley — Sunday, October 8, 2006 @ 3:56 pm
The real reason why noone’s asking, Bob, is because most people just don’t care.
If they did, they’d be asking a whole lot of other questions than just about one company.
Events like this one (or that of Bhopal) are quickly forgotten, because if
everyone had to pay the true costs for their appliances, chemicals, etc then
we couldn’t have basically a negative inflation economy (for some), where you can make fat salaries but pay less and less for a computer, even though they are more and more powerful.
I just heard a news story the other day about how companies like ford, intel etc had taken these big (i mean big) tax breaks awarded to them last year to make sure they’d provide more american jobs and better wages, etc, and then reported that due to business reasons they now had to move (more) operations overseas. That has happened continually for the past two decades, much of it being due to (aside from miniscule labor rates) the relatively nonexistent environmental regulations.
The really scary thing about chemicals like these is where are they going when they’re not burning?
Where do you think?
Has noone heard of the oceans’ populations of fish dying off in the past ten years?
Here’s a good one from Walmart:
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/167963/
It’s called social fabric. If people were asking questions they’d be asking about how many people now have no medical insurance in this country. It used to be 40 million. Maybe 50? 60? 70?… The minimum waqe hasn’t been raised in like how many years? And it’s because businesses will go under?
It’s all of a package.
Good luck to you guys.
Comment by Daniel Smith — Monday, October 9, 2006 @ 3:25 am
Do you think this incident will impact house prices in Apex?
Comment by Shakeel Mahate — Monday, October 9, 2006 @ 9:07 am
It is still pretty early to be thinking about real estate prices. Right now, the thing to watch is health effects, especially over the near term (under two years) and the medium term (two to five years). Some of the near term impact will definitely be psychological in nature, but since the brain and the body are attached, mental and emotional effects *are* physical effects. Depending on what was spilled, there could also be long term effects such as birth defects and cancers.
If the medium to long term effects are mild and do not affect many people, and if this is an isolated incident, real estate, employment, and other local economic effects should be minimal.
Now, how are you and your family, Mark? I know your parents live somewhere near you as well. Are they okay?
Comment by W^L+ — Wednesday, October 11, 2006 @ 2:18 am