Suspicious Chemical In East Atlanta Village is Butyl Alcohol

City of Atlanta sanitation workers doing regular garbage pick-up on Ormewood Avenue called Atlanta fire officials just after noon Wednesday following their discovery of a jug containing liquid that gave off a foul odor.

Atlanta Fire Rescue Department officials later determined the liquid in question to be a mixture of chemicals comprised mainly of butyl alcohol, spokesman Jolyon Bundridge told East Atlanta Patch.

It's not clear who put the half-gallon jug in with the household trash, in the 1300 block of Ormewood Avenue, he said.

"That's something we're going to follow-up on," Bundridge said.

Sanitation Department Supervisor John Busby told East Atlanta Patch that one of his employees came into contact with the material and began choking and coughing up blood.

That employee, as well as others working on that sanitation truck will have to be evaluated.

The truck itself is going to have be decontaminated before it can go back into circulation, Bundridge said.