HAMILTON — A thick dark cloud rose behind Cadence Bank on Old Highway 45. It took a few moments for workers at the Hamilton bank to realize it was smoke, and there was only one place it could be coming from.
At the NAPA Auto parts store, on the opposite side of Old 45, facing the expansive Tronox site, it was clearly smoke from the moment it began to billow. Word traveled quickly to Lil” Blessings Daycare and Learning Center, a quarter-mile away from the chemical plant.
Sheila Sanders, owner of the daycare, got the news from a worker there, whose husband could see the smoke rising outside the NAPA Auto Parts window around noon.
At 1:07, Monroe County sheriff”s deputies were manning the gates at Tronox, a manufacturer of titanium dioxide pigment, on Old Highway 45. The fire was contained, they reported, but no one was allowed on the site as hazmat crews worked.
Up the road, at Lackie”s Steak, Fish and Seafood in Hamilton, just off Highway 45 North, Tronox workers waited for news.
“We saw smoke and left,” one worker said.
Two truck drivers with Northwood Trucking in West Point waited at the Crossroads Shell station for news on when they could resume deliveries.
“We”re just waiting,” said Orlando Allen of West Point. “From what we can tell, it”s under control. That”s all we can tell.”
“We”re just waiting on a call from the front gate,” added Arlen Toews, also of West Point. “Until someone tells us we can go, we can”t go.”
Toews, originally from Canada, had just dumped his first load of salt for the day, before the fire broke out in the plant”s sodium chlorate storage facility at 11:50.
By 12:35, all Tronox employees and contractors were accounted for, without injury. And by 12:55, the fire was out without any interruption to operations, according to a statement issued at 2 p.m. from the company”s listen-and-learn telephone system.
Waiting ”scared”
Still, as customers went into the Shell station talking about the fire, Senorita Fields, whose first thought was, “It”s Kerr Mcgee. It”s going to blow.” (Kerr-McGee, which also had a wood treatment facility in Columbus, spun off its chemical division in 2005 and renamed it Tronox.)
“I was scared,” said Fields, a lifelong Hamilton resident. “We were waiting to hear the sirens.”
Outside the Shell station, a Hamilton Fire and Rescue worker was pumping gas into her truck. The fire, she said, was out before she got there.
Along with others throughout town, Melinda Reeves of The Grass Shop Flowers and Gifts hadn”t gotten word the fire was out.
Watching through the storefront as fire trucks and ambulances from Hamilton, Hatley, Becker, Aberdeen and Columbus rushed past, Reeves was panicked.
“We”re scared to death. We”re worried,” said Reeves. “We don”t know anything. The only thing we”ve heard thus far is fire, no chemicals.”
Listening for sirens
Every Friday, she said, the plant tests its sirens, a signal there has been a chemical spill.
“When you hear that, you pretty much know the sirens are working, they”re doing their jobs in case something happens,” Reeves noted.
“It”s scary, because if it does blow, you”re looking at (losing) everything (in the area), I guess,” she added. “It”s chemicals out there.”
The Tronox plant makes titanium dioxide pigment and sodium chlorate bleach used by the pulp and paper industry.
As time passed and Reeves heard no sirens and no word from the company, by 1:45, she was calm.
“I feel like they would have at least called somebody, if it was bad,” she said. For a while, she thought about picking her children up from Hamilton Attendance Center, about 2 1/2 miles down the road.
Calm but cautious
At the school, on Hamilton Road, things went on as normal.
“We have plans in place that address (an incident at the plant), but we didn”t enact them today. We weren”t in any danger,” said Mark Howell, school principal. He heard about the fire from a parent and also got a call from the local 911 office.
“We have several parents that work down there (at Tronox). They weren”t evacuated,” said Sanders, who stayed alert but not worried.
“There have been times when they”ll send someone out, if we smell chemicals in the air,” she noted.
An environmentalist visited five years ago when Sanders reported smelling chlorine; there haven”t been any issues since, she said.
Lil” Blessings” neighbors at Evans Plumbing and A/C Mechanical Contractors likewise stayed calm.
“I worked there for 24 years,” an attendant said from behind the counter. “They”ll let you know if it”s something to worry about.”
Next door to Cadence, The Grass Shop has been in its location for at least 10 years, with Tronox as a neighbor, without incident.
Economic impact
Several families in Hamilton, a community of about 3,000, rely on the plant for their livelihood.
“Lots of families have ties to that plant. All the men (who work there), they eat at local restaurants, and (Tronox) contributes to the school,” Reeves, said, also touting Tronox”s impact on the local economy.
The Hamilton Tronox plant employs about 435 people and 160 contractors with a payroll of $41 million, including benefits.
In 2007, Tronox paid $3.2 million in local use and ad valorem taxes and spent $40 million on Mississippi good and services. The facility also has an active United Way campaign, traditionally earning the agency”s Pinnacle Award, given to companies that raise $10,000 or more.
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