The industrial fire that forced the closure of two interstates south of Atlanta Thursday morning started when pine oil ignited on a loading dock, a company official said.
Investigators are still trying to determine what caused the oil to catch fire, said Kathryn Caulfield, a spokeswoman for plant owner Clorox Company. She said the fire started at the loading dock while the oil, which is used to produce the cleaning product Pine Sol, was being unloaded.
No employees were seriously injured and fire sprinklers helped extinguish the blaze, she said. "We're pleased that all of our safety systems and emergency response systems worked."
The ignition caused an explosion and two fires. One of the fires burned in a storage shed and the other in a coolant station, Forest Park Deputy Fire Chief Matt Jackson said.
Authorities closed I-285 at Riverdale Road and I-75 at Cleveland Avenue, diverting traffic to side streets. The highways reopened about 10:25 a.m. after the fires were extinguished.
Because no toxic chemicals were involved, Jackson said, "there will be no effect from smoke." He said the interstates were closed as a precaution, "because we didn't know exactly what was on fire at the time."
The plant was evacuated, and three employees were treated at the scene for minor injuries.
The fires pumped out a column of smoke that was visible up to a mile away
"It smelled like insecticide," said Johnny Stinchcomb, who owns the nearby Big Wrench Truck Repair.
The fire did not affect operations at the nearby Hartsfield-Jackson International Aiport, FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.
The Oakland, Calif.-based Clorox Company has been making products in Atlanta since 1946. It opened the Forest Park plant -- at 17 Lake Mirror Road, off Old Dixie Highway -- in 1970.
The company has about 20 plants in the United States, and the Forest Park facility is among the largest, Caulfield said. It employs about 250 people and makes a variety of cleaning products, including Pine Sol and bleach.
The company does not know the extent of the damage nor how long the facility will be out of operation, Caulfield said.
Pine oil, a mild disinfectant extracted from pine trees, is considered non-toxic.
She said the company handles chlorine, which is used in the manufacture of bleach, in a more secure manner than other materials, such as the pine oil.
Chlorine arrives in sealed rail cars that are unloaded in a secure indoor environment, she said. The cars contain devices capable of detecting leaks and shutting down the offloading process.
"Chlorine is handled quite differently," Caulfield said.
Soon, the company will eliminate the use of chlorine in bleach altogether, she added, because of regulations that make transport of the material more difficult.
No one was transported to the hospital. Three people were treated at the scene for minor injuries.
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