Biga Fire News Today

>> when do you expect the others to burn? >> as long as they are kept cold, the integrity of that material can be kept. [ inaudible question ] >> correct. >> they degrade on their own? >> thats correct. once they exceed a certain temperature, they decompose and that generates the heat, which ultimately produces the fire. >> described as intense fire. can you talk about how they burn and a worse case scenario, if there is an explosion as we talked about earlier, how big are we talking about? what...

One and a half mile evacuation zone. we believe, along with the local authorities we have moved everyone out of harms way and no one is in danger based on the fire we expect. >> access the plant right now with a boat? >> no. we are not intending to go into the site based on the current state. as we understand it. we dont think thats a safe thing to do. >> when will you be able to go in? >> certainly we wont until all the floodwater has receded. thats the first step. then, certainly the product w...

Evacuated a long time ago. >> paul, as close as you can get to the arkema plant. again, we have been listening to this long news conference. they have been expecting more incidents. this will be an ongoing issue. we could hear and see more fire and smoke from that plant in the coming hours. well keep a close eye on it. we want to go to drew griffin. they are dealing with a different kind of problem. utilities, resources as the floodwaters rise. >> reporter: yeah. theres already a lineup for wate...

>> this morning, as expected for all of the research that was done by myself and others, we found out that we had one of the box vans that there was a chemical decomposition, chemical reaction that resulted in a fire location. there were a number of small containers inside the box van that did rupture. we heard popping noise coming from that area. then gray smoke and followed by a fire. >> the neighbor we talked to off camera says he called in some of his neighbors stayed behind and heard the po...

Its not 100% certain what the conditions are in the containers. were not going to put anybody in harms way. we just dont know. >> you dont have any idea of how long the fire will continue? >> we do not, no. we anticipate that certainly weve had the first incident we dont know the answer to that. >> these thingses are toxic or youre not sure? >> theyre noctxious for sure. >> you cant say that the particles themselves are n nontoxic? >> hold on. answer the question. nontoxic or can you not say tha...

Military vehicles. the chemicals used to make things like hoses, foam cups and plastic pipes need to be kept cold. but more than 40 inches of rain knocked out electricity, killed backup generators and now threatens the remaining cold storage units. what is not clear tonight is exactly how big a fire or explosion might be, and exactly what the impact would be on people or the environment. tonight, state, local and federal officials are watching closely, tom. >> a story were going to stay on top o...

Of these containers housing organic peroxide. whether or not there was an explosion seems to be in dispute. some officials acknowledged it was a pop. others indicated it could be counted as an explosion. another area of confusion, the smoke right now. is it a danger to people in the community? some people, county officials there, compared it to breathing in a campfire. the president of the subsidiary of arkema said it can be dangerous if you breathe it in, get it in your eyes or skin, seek medic...

Theyve had trouble defining what this is. they initially called it an explosion. later they said they didnt want to call it that because they didnt want to scare people but it is an explosion, a small one. another eight large containers like 18-wheeler type that, big, that size. those are going to do the same thing. chemicals are going to react, heat up. there will be small explosions, flames will shoot up into the air, 30, 40 feet, as we heard the other one did and the entire container will ess...

This in the past. how concerned should people in crosby be? >> i think they should be very concerned. you know, we listened to the president of the company but the local fire service and law enforcement have done the right thing, mile and a half permanenter evacuation, watching this thing. not much they can do except watch and wait. eventually its going to catch on fire, explode. theyve kept people away. theyre doing the right thing under the circumstances. so, you know, these organic peroxides ...

>> can you clarify that? i might have misheard you. its not nontoxic or explain what is happening. >> its nontoxic irritants. basically smoke from the fire itself, its nothing toxic. thats the information weve been receiving. our fire marshal has been in conversation with the company the last few days. >> the plant, arkema folk, did not go as far as you are at this point. does that concern you with the health concerns from this smoke? >> at this point, it does not. were here. we talked to them a...