ATLANTA — Hundreds of dead fish have been found in a pair of creeks feeding the Chattahoochee River, and it is being called one of the largest fish kills in years.
The Chattahoochee River Keeper says the fish kill was caused as the result of a large junkyard fire on Monday.
Video given to Channel 2 Action News by the River Keeper shows large amounts of firefighting foam pouring into a creek in northwest Atlanta on Monday.
“It was pretty incredible the amount of foam that we saw get into the creek immediately after the firefighting activities,” said Jason Ulseth with the Chattahoochee River Keeper.
The Atlanta Fire Department battled a massive fire at a junkyard on Monday and Ulseth believes the foam along with chemicals from the junkyard led to the deaths of hundreds of fish.
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“What happened was those chemicals interacted with the environment here, sucked all the oxygen out of the creek and overnight all the wildlife and fish here just suffocated,” Ulseth said.
But the Atlanta fire believes its foam is not to blame.
In a statement, a representative said:
“The foam used by Atlanta Fire Rescue for firefighting purposes … at the concentration levels used is biodegradable and non-toxic. We do NOT believe that the foam used to extinguish the fire contributed in any way to fish being killed in the area.”
But Ulseth wants people to know about what he calls the unintended consequences of the fire that led to the largest fish kill in years.
“We also need to understand that it is going to have an impact on our local streams and our river,” Ulseth said.
The streams affected pour into the Chattahoochee river, but Ulseth said he does not expect any problems there.
Cox Media Group
