FOREST PARK, Ga. - Tests have found that toxic vapor is accumulating in some homes near Fort Gillem, a former military depot just south of Atlanta.
Testing this summer found hazardous chemicals in levels high enough to pose a danger to human health in the air of 26 of 29 homes sampled, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
U.S. Army officials are expected to begin informing residents of the results in the coming day, and that Army officials had no immediate comment on the matter, the newspaper reported.
More than 200 buildings are still to be tested, including a day care center close to the former base.
Chemicals dumped for years and buried underground are now seeping into groundwater off the base, and are the suspected source of the air-borne pollution, the newspaper reported.
Gov. Nathan Deal called the level of contamination "significantly greater than originally anticipated."
"I am concerned that many more of the remaining homes are contaminated at levels dangerous to human health," Deal wrote in a letter to the Army's top environmental official.
The governor is urging the military to move rapidly to test additional homes and install mitigation measures to those homes already affected.
Among chemicals detected in the air study are benzene and trichloroethylene (TCE), both listed as known carcinogens by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Fort Gillem closed in September 2011 as part of an overall military restructuring. It had spent most of its active life as a depot, a hub for the repair and storage of vehicles.
Linda Seagroves lived near Fort Gillem for close to 15 years but recently moved to Colorado, in part because the environmental risks made her uneasy.
"I couldn't handle it anymore," Seagroves told the Atlanta newspaper. "I was scared to live there."