Fire at CryoLife business in Kennesaw forces evacuations

More than 400 people were evacuated Tuesday morning after a fire broke out in a Cobb County building with chemicals inside, officials said.

Cobb fire crews extinguished the blaze and a hazmat team was called to investigate the scene, according to fire department spokesman Capt. Joseph Bryant.

The fire started around 9 a.m. inside the CryoLife building located in the 1600 block of Roberts Boulevard in Kennesaw, officials said.

Chemicals including sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide were in the room where the fire was burning, Bryant said. The fire appears to have been caused by a reaction from those chemicals, he said. First responders were decontaminated as they left the building, Bryant said.

Three employees who were in the room at the time were able to escape, but one person had to be taken to a hospital for smoke inhalation, Bryant said.

Cobb Fire officials told me, a fire started inside a building on Roberts Blvd.
The fire burned inside a room with chemicals in it.
The fire is out.
1 person taken to hospital for smoke inhalation.
400+ people evacuated, while air sampling gets underway.
LIVE report at 12.@wsbtv pic.twitter.com/2FUDz1O00E
— Audrey Washington (@AudreyWSBTV) November 5, 2019

Bryant said air samples were taken and everything appears to be OK. He said there was no danger to employees or surrounding areas.

The business was released back to its owner Tuesday afternoon to resume normal operations, Bryant said.

In other news:

Two Morehouse basketball students and their friends just left the fast food restaurant when someone started shooting.

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