ATLANTA — TUESDAY UPDATE: Repairs to the HVAC system completed on Monday has allowed air conditioning to resume in the majority of the Fulton County Jail, according to the sheriff's office. Because of the size of the facility, however, officials said air conditioning has not fully reached some units, so additional spot coolers were put in place in many areas.
No heat-related medical emergencies have been reported, according to the sheriff's office. Jail and medical provider staff are performing regular health and safety checks in all units.
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UPDATE: Fulton County now says contractors have "completed repairs to the chiller at the Fulton County Jail, a key step toward restoration of air conditioning at the facility. This will allow temperatures to return to the normal range over the course of today."
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Original story below
Inmates at the Fulton County Jail experienced uncomfortable conditions all weekend after severe storms knocked out power for much of the weekend, the sheriff's office said on Sunday.
The jail experienced a number of issues this weekend -- including no air conditioning, limited hot meals, and even being forced to stop accepting detainees for a period of time, the sheriff's office said.
A backup propane tank was also damaged from a fallen tree after straight line winds impacted much of Atlanta on Friday, fire officials said. They had to remove dangerous gasses before contractors could restart the air conditioning system within the jail.
Backup generators kicked on right away for basic power, but Atlanta Fire officials said that mechanical equipment has to remain off until the propane tank can finish venting.
A portable chiller truck has been used to help keep the jail cool in the absence of air conditioning.
Georgia Power was called in to help fix problems in the kitchen, which forced the jail to serve sandwiches on Friday night. Once the jail got those issues fixed, they served inmates hot meals with double portions on Saturday night.
Fulton County Sheriff Patrick "Pat" Labat was at the jail overnight on Saturday and came back to the jail Sunday to work directly with the emergency response teams to help keep operations running smoothly, the sheriff's office explained in a statement.
"We are using commanders from all divisions of the agency to conduct detainee health and safety checks and make sure any medical needs are addressed," the statement read.
Although the jail was forced to stop accepting inmates in the immediate aftermath of the storm damage on Friday, they were back to normal operations in accepting detainees on Saturday, the sheriff's office confirmed.
During the outage, four inmate medical emergencies were reported and "responded to with appropriate treatment."
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional information from the sheriff's office.