Road reopens after massive Cobb blaze; firefighters working on hot spots

Firefighters battled a blaze in an industrial district on Riverview Road on Friday morning.

Crews are still extinguishing hot spots after a massive structure fire at an industrial building near I-285 in Cobb County, authorities said.

The blaze started in a facility on Riverview Road, which is north of Bolton Road and the Chattahoochee River.

Cobb fire division Chief Carl Crumbley said a passer-by reported the fire about 6:05 a.m. When firefighters arrived, the warehouse was engulfed in flames, so crews could not enter the building, he said.

The facility contained Christmas decorations and other plastic ornaments, including fake alligator heads.

Crumbley said there aren’t any concerns about chemicals in the facility polluting the air or water supply.

“At the beginning, we were unsure about what was in the warehouse, so we took a lot of precautions,” he said. “Our hazmat team is on the scene and they’re currently testing water runoff and air quality, and we have no concerns at this time.”

Chopper footage showed huge plumes of black smoke as multiple units battled the flames.

Crumbley said no nearby homes needed to be evacuated.

No firefighters were injured and it appears the building was unoccupied when it caught fire, Crumbley said.

“We’ve been very lucky with the direction of the wind and the pluming of the smoke moving away very quickly,” he said.

The building was destroyed. The cause of the blaze is still unclear.

Riverview Road was closed for the morning and much of the afternoon between South Cobb Drive and Veterans Memorial Highway. The road reopened around 3:45 p.m., Channel 2 Action News reported.

The fire was one of two major blazes in metro Atlanta on Friday morning.

An overnight explosion caused a fire at a southeast Atlanta pallet facility and forced residents in several homes to evacuate. The fire at Pallet Depot on Sawtell Avenue has been contained, but some firefighters were still on scene extinguishing hot spots, officials said.

RELATED: Homes evacuated after overnight explosion at Atlanta pallet warehouse