ATLANTA — A massive fire is finally out Saturday after burning for hours at a Marietta chemical warehouse. The investigation process into what started the fire has begun.
"The fire marshal’s office will start digging it out systematically piece by piece finding a cause," said Marietta Fire Asst. Chief Steve Ingram.
The fire broke out at about 8:30 p.m. Friday at AmRep Inc., which specializes in cleaning products. Plumes of smoke and flames could be seen for over 20 miles.
Police told Channel 2 Action News that an officer patrolling in the area noticed the building was on fire and called in for help.
Witnesses told Channel 2's Amy Napier Viteri that they have never seen a fire like the one at AmRep.
"It was explosion after explosion and some of them were so big that the flames were shooting up 300-400 feet in the sky and you could actually feel the concussion from the explosions and the heat as well," witness Pete Letourneau said.
Letourneau said he had to pull over when he saw the smoke from the warehouse and said he could feel the blasts coming from a least a mile away.
Hundreds of people were evacuated as one explosion after another rocked Industrial Park Drive. The storage portion of AmRep burned out of control for hours and continued to smolder until 5 a.m. Saturday.
Water was pumped on the building for 18 hours, which could have environmental implications. Because of that, the EPA arrived on scene Saturday to investigate.
“There's been a substantial amount of runoff. All the chemicals have run off into sewer rivers and lakes monitoring that as we speak," Ingram said.
The portion of AmRep that was not burned has a sprinkler system. Ingram said the company will be required to put sprinklers in all of its buildings when it rebuilds.
Ingram said the portion that burned was grandfathered in because it's such an old building, that's why it didn't have sprinklers. He said the tanks in the back had their own sprinklers on them that's why they are still standing.