Bus Driver Honored For Evacuating Employees After Acid Spill

CANTON, GA — A Cherokee Area Transportation Services bus driver was honored Thursday by the Cherokee Sheriff's Office for helping evacuate Pilgrim's Pride employees from its facility on Univeter Road after an acid spill shut down the area last week.

The Sept. 21 spill of the peracetic acid from a package being delivered by a FedEx truck forced the Cherokee Sheriff's Office to close Univeter Road in front of the chicken processing plant for several hours while the county's Hazmat crews worked to clean up the mess.

Immediately after the spill, employees at the plant were told to leave the facility and were standing near the hazardous materials while officials wondered what could be done to prevent them and others from coming in contact with the acid, the sheriff's office said.

"The danger to life was uncertain, and the need to move the employees to a safe location out of harm's way became priority number one," the agency added in its commendation.

However, moving more than 300 employees from the location was a logistical challenge, so the sheriff's office reached out to CATS to ask if they could help in this daunting task. A CATS bus driven by Donna Camp arrived at the scene, and she began relocating the employees to a safe location.

RELATED: Univeter Road Reopens Following Acid Spill At Chicken Plant

"Mrs. Camp, without regards for her own personal safety, leaped into action and started moving the employees to a safe location," the sheriff's office added. "Mrs. Camp made several trips to the hazardous area to pick up workers and move them out of harm's way."

Camp accepted the commendation from Sheriff Frank Reynolds Thursday at the Cherokee Sheriff's Office's headquarters with her daughter, Morgan.

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Images via Cherokee Sheriff's Office