Questions remain after chemical mishap at Perdue causes concern in Georgetown
GEORGETOWN, Del. – Questions and concerns remain after a chemical mishap at the Perdue plant in Georgetown resulted in a shelter in place order Wednesday.
“Perdue needs to find why this truck driver put them chemicals in that tank and not the other tank,” Georgetown Mayor Bill West told our Rob Petree. “This is something they need to address.”
Mayor West reacting to what turned into a concerning Wednesday evening for some of his constituents after a chemical mishap at Perdue resulted in a shelter in place order for half-a-mile of residents near the processing plant on Savannah Road. The incident occurred when a contract worker accidentally mixed chemicals into a bin, causing a plume of smoke to fill the air that injured four workers.
“The two chemicals that were involved in this hazardous materials incident were sodium hydroxide and a peroxy aesthetic,” explained Lewis Briggs with Georgetown Fire Company. “It can cause irritated eyes and a cough is what the workers, some of their symptoms were.”
While the shelter in place order only pertained to the immediate area near the plant in Georgetown, during the incident, a false-alert was sent out through the Delaware Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) advising the entire State of Delaware to shelter in place.
“We had people that was notified in New Castle County, people that was notified in Kent,” Mayor West said. “I was getting phone calls from them saying ‘what’s going on in Georgetown?!'”
DEMA’s Director A.J. Schall explained how that was a mistake and that it happened after a state employee inadvertently checked a box that send out the statewide alert. He said they’re taking several steps to prevent that from happening again in the future.
“It was one of those snowball effects and it was very unfortunate,” Director Schall said. “We are taking a deep look at it and doing everything we can to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Perdue declined an interview with WMDT News, just issuing a statement, saying in part quote: “At Perdue Farms, the safety and well-being of our associates, neighbors, and community remain our highest priority.”
At this point, there still appears to be more questions than answers as it pertains to what, if any, steps Perdue is taking to ensure that this type of incident doesn’t happen again.
“It’s a Perdue problem,” Mayor West said. “I can see what their point of view is wanting to get their facts together, to come out with a true statement to protect themselves, but I’ve got the community to protect.”
Mayor West called on Perdue, the state, county, and everyone else involved to unite to come up with a plan in the event that something like does occur again.
“I want communications opened up between all of us,” Mayor West emphasized. “If this happens again, I want a game plan on how long we’ve got to evacuate people, how far they’ve got to be evacuated from there, and set up where we’re going to keep them in shelter, so this involves all of us now.”
What, if any steps, Perdue is taking moving forward to prevent this from happening again, remain unclear. We have and will continue to request an interview with the company to seek additional information.
