A well-orchestrated evacuation plan went into effect Tuesday for Rockdale County residents who live in the path of a chemical plant fire that could burn for days.
Officials first put a voluntary evacuation plan into effect, but that quickly turned mandatory after a wall of the burning Bio-Lab plant collapsed and explosions followed.
"I was just standing, watching to see was it getting bigger or whatever," said Lillier Lester, who lives just around the corner from the fire. Lester had been reluctant to leave her home until a police officer came by and forced her.
"I just think it's another fire. That's all," Lester said.
EPA and EPD officials were monitoring the air quality, as paramedics manned evacuation centers to watch for people suffering from respiratory problems.
Busses were used to transport residents from their homes to the shelters at Heritage High School and J.H. House Elementary. Paul Huey, a county mechanic, got called in to serve as a bus driver.
"In cases like this, they ask us to help out," he told 11Alive's Kevin Rowson.
Resident Juanita Perez volunteered as a translator for a Conyers police officer who went door-to-door in an attempt to get non-English speaking families to evacuate.
"That they need to evacuate from the apartments and get on the school bus and then take it from there," Perez said she told them.
"Very grateful to have her help," the officer said.
Evacuee Chris Osborn, who moved to Georgia from New York, told 11Alive that the smell of the air seemed all too familiar.
"My school was right around 9/11 when it happened and this is almost exactly how it smelt," Osborn said as he left an abandoned Wal-Mart store.
At least nine people had to be treated for smoke-related respiratory problems. Evacuations orders were subject to change, depending on the direction of the wind, officials said.
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