Toledo, Ohio – A driver crawled through a thick, glowing haze in the heart of Toledo overnight as a chemical release at a tank terminal in the north of the city forced evacuations and a shelter-in-place order.

Footage of the drive, shared by X user Muscular Baby shortly after midnight on October 21 and captioned “the airborne toxic event,” shows red taillights barely visible through the murk and streetlights smeared into hazy halos as cars inch along the road.

Toledo Fire & Rescue ordered everyone within a one-mile radius of 1266 Progress Avenue, the site of MC Tank Terminal, to evacuate at 10:48 p.m. on October 20 after glycidyl methacrylate began leaking from a tank of about 5,500 gallons, according to the city and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. At 4:24 a.m., a three-mile shelter-in-place order followed. The chemical is an irritant that can burn the eyes, nose, mouth and skin.

Dense natural fog and almost no wind made matters worse, and city officials warned that residents could not tell the fog from the chemical plume just by looking. Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said one first responder was taken to hospital with an injury not believed to be serious. On Wednesday evening, firefighters reduced the evacuation zone to a half-mile radius and lifted the shelter-in-place order.

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