Multiple crews of firefighters responded on Wednesday night to a chemical fire at the Tyson Foods Inc. poultry processing plant in Dawson, Georgia. Tyson Foods Public Relations Spokesperson Worth Sparkman said that the fire started in the docking area of the processing plant. Team members in the plant were evacuated and no employee injuries were reported.
Dozens of homes were evacuated, but no injuries were reported. As a precautionary measure, Terrell Country schools were closed on Thursday, April 19 because of the schools’ proximity to the plant. The cause of the fire is under investigation, but the investigation may take awhile to complete.
“Our team members were evacuated and there were no injuries,” Tyson Foods said in a statement. “We’re grateful for area fire departments and their quick response. The incident involved the release of ammonia, which is used as a refrigerant at the plant. The leak has been isolated and we’re working to determine the root cause. The plant will not operate the rest of this week. We’re evaluating the damage and will determine when we might resume operations sometime next week.”
