(The following article by John O’Connor was posted on the State website on January 13.)
GRANITEVILLE, S.C. — The strong breeze that blew down Jasmine Drive could not disperse the doubts in William Creed’s mind about chlorine contamination at his Graniteville home.
Creed, his wife, Agnes, and grandchildren Sydney, Justin and Hayden Blackmon cautiously returned to their home Thursday for the first time in a week.
William Creed suffers from pulmonary disease that requires him to breathe oxygen around-the-clock, and Sydney, 11, Justin, 7, and Hayden, 8 months, all suffer from asthma. So the family has reason to be wary about exposure to traces of toxic chlorine.
The Creeds, both 71, turned on the house’s air conditioning, hung a tag on the mailbox and waited in folding canvas chairs on the front lawn for inspectors to give them the all-clear, while the children ran barefoot through the yard and bounced on a trampoline.
“It’s just a little mildewed in there,” William Creed said. “I don’t smell any chlorine. I’m going to let them make sure.”
Creed was more worried, he said, about the health of his neighbor, Graniteville-Vaucluse-Warrenville Volunteer Fire Department Chief Phil Napier.
More than 5,000 people were evacuated from the town last week; the Creeds were among the half of those who returned home Thursday.
Today, people who live in the Quimby Town neighborhood, Kalmia Apartments, or on parts of Granite Drive and Taylor Street will be allowed to go home, in the second of what authorities said might be a five-phase return.
Authorities couldn’t estimate Thursday night how many residents would remain displaced.
The Creeds, who have lived in their ranch-style home for 37 years, said they had no fear about coming back. They, their daughter Jennifer Blackmon and the three children fled the home a few hours after the spill, expecting to only be gone one or two days.
Instead, the family spent the past week with the Creeds’ son in North Augusta, putting six children under the age of 14 in one home.
The disruption was difficult for the family. Justin said he was ready to get back to Byrd Elementary School; he wanted to play on the monkey bars again. But Sydney disagreed, saying returning to school could wait.
Even baby Hayden noticed the commotion.
“He did all right the first couple days,” Agnes Creed said, “but the last few days he’s been ornery. I know it’s because he misses home.
“I’m ready for a little routine.”
Though workers were still cleaning up at the crash site less than a mile away, there were signs that life was returning to normal.
Neighbors up and down the street sat on their front porches and shared stories. Ruth Boatwright crossed the street to catch up with Agnes Creed about how they had spent the last week.
The two were not sure, and had not seen a photo, but they thought the name of one of the men who died sounded familiar. It was just one of the ways life was different on Jasmine Drive.
William Creed needed to refill his oxygen canisters, and the family could not decide the easiest way to avoid roadblocks on their way to Aiken.
Was Chalk Bed Road open? What about Ascauga Lake Road?
Inspectors from the EPA and a private contractor showed up around three hours after the family returned home.
When Napier checked in on the Creeds a few minutes later — before visiting his own home — William Creed asked how the chief was feeling.
“I’m too mean for chlorine to get me,” Napier joked.
The two men gave thanks the crash was not worse than it had been, and the testing, which took about 10 minutes, showed there were no signs of contamination. The Creeds were ready to move on, and start cleaning their home.
“That makes me feel good,” William Creed said of the test results. “Now I get to sleep in my own bed.”