More than 93,000 residents living in one Georgia county were told Monday to continue sheltering in place after a fire at a chemical lab over the weekend led to a plume of smoke containing chlorine lingering in the air.
Georgia officials said Monday it "strongly" advised all Rockdale County businesses to be closed and residents to stay home with their windows and doors shut and air conditioning kept off. The county shut down schools and government offices in response to the Sunday fire at BioLab in Conyers.
The fire started around 5:30 a.m. Sunday on the roof of the plant, Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel told reporters. Then water from a malfunctioning sprinkler head came in contact with a water-reactive chemical, creating a plume of smoke that could be seen for miles and caused residents of even neighboring counties to report the smell of chemicals.
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Though firefighters initially brought the fire under control, it reignited around noon as they were offloading products from the building, McDaniel said. It was then extinguished by 4 p.m., but by then the lab's roof and several of its walls had then collapsed. No injuries were reported in the incident, and all the lab's employees are safe, officials said.
On Monday, crews worked to remove debris from the area and douse any hot spots with water. McDaniel saying they would bring down the structure's back wall once the rest of the affected product was removed from the site.
And while they worked on the physical aftermath, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Georgia's Environmental Protection Division were also on the scene to assess any atmospheric harm. Their air quality survey detected chlorine in the air emitting from the lab, which led the Rockdale County Emergency Management Agency to extend the shelter-in-place.
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The CDC says inhaling chlorine gas can cause mucus, coughing, chest pain, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, dermatitis, hypoxemia, and burning of the eyes, nose and mouth. In 2004, a similar fire at the Conyers BioLab sent at least nine people to hospitals with burning sensations in their eyes and chest. And similar chemical fires occurred there in 2015 and 2020, with the former injuring six firefighters.
A public safety text alert from Georgia Emergency Management Monday notified residents that the EPA would continue to monitor air quality for chlorine and related compounds, like hydrogen sulfide and carbon monoxide, but said that the chemical levels were "unlikely to cause harm to most people." McDaniel also said that there was "nothing that we can do or will be done" to make the chemical product "any worse than it already is."
"It is off-gassing, but once we can get it removed from the building, from the water source, in a secure area, then we will see a better diminishing of the clouds and smoke that we are seeing," McDaniel said.
The fire and smoke also led to the closure of nearly 10 roads that remained largely closed on Monday. Interstate 20 was one road affected due to the "unpredictable path and wind direction" that could have changed the flow of irritants in the air, though the road was reopened early Monday, Rockdale County officials said.
McDaniel said Rockdale residents and those of neighboring counties may continue to see smoke from off-gassing for several days.
