# Georgia Chemical Plant Fire on September 30th, 2024

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## The Georgia chemical fire, explained: Why chlorine is in the air and what to do about it | Vox

https://www.vox.com/climate/374950/georgia-chemical-plant-fire-biolab-conyers-atlanta-chlorine | https://www.vox.com

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Amid the devastation and mass flooding wrought by Hurricane Helene, the Atlanta metropolitan area had yet another disaster: A chemical fire released a massive plume of potentially toxic gasses into the air. And it’s spreading.

Early Sunday morning, a fire erupted at BioLab, a chemical plant specializing in pool and spa water care, in Conyers, just 30 miles east of Atlanta in Rockdale County. It’s unknown what caused the fire as of publication, but local fire department officials say water from the triggered sprinkler system had reacted with the various chemicals in the building.

Around 11 am ET on Sunday, officials requested that all church services be closed. By 11, several local roads were closed, and by around 1 pm officials ordered about 17,000 people in Conyers to evacuate, as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Georgia’s environmental protection division ran air quality tests, where they detected chlorine around the facility. Chlorine is a toxic gas that can have negative short- and long-term health effects. Around noon, as first responders were putting the initial fire out and removing products from the facility, the fire reignited.

“We are all focused on remediating the situation as rapidly as possible,” the company said in its most recent statement.

Officials then instituted a shelter-in-place order late Sunday evening for Rockdale County, which comprises around 90,000 people. Fulton County, which includes parts of Atlanta, has reported “a haze and strong chemical smell” this morning, which local officials stated is likely due to the BioLab fire.

Although acute exposure to chlorine gas causes various symptoms, including coughing, irritation in the eyes and nose, skin irritation, and a burning sensation in the chest, multiple agencies said that the chlorine in the air does not pose a threat to most people. At time of publication, health agencies have not identified any specific high-risk populations such as those with preexisting respiratory conditions.

All of this comes after Hurricane Helene’s wreckage, leaving resources and communication from local officials stretched thin. It’s an alarming glimpse at what can happen when multiple disasters occur at once, and it highlights the need for better preparation for such cases.

**Delays in official communication**

A shelter-in-place order is still in effect in Rockdale County. Officials recommend local residents keep their windows and doors closed and the AC off, presumably to prevent toxic gasses from getting in. All Rockdale County government facilities are closed, as are several roads in the area. County officials advised businesses to keep their operations closed until the shelter-in-place order is lifted.

On its Facebook page, the county posted a video showing the aftermath of the fire. The front, left, and right sides of the plant “totally collapsed,” according to Marian McDaniel, the county’s chief of fire rescue. She said that once they’ve removed debris from the fire, they will bring down the remaining side and retrieve the remaining “product” from the ruins of the facility.

“Nothing that we can do or will be done to make this product any worse than it already is,” McDaniel told the press. The clouds and smoke should go away once the remaining chemicals are removed from the building.

But as the gas dissipates, which may take days, it’s also moving toward other parts of Georgia — cities and towns that may not have had clear directions on what to do. That’s on top of dealing with the fallout from Helene.

The Georgia Emergency Services and Homeland Security Agency issued a local area emergency Monday afternoon to residents living within a 50-mile radius of the BioLab fire, a full day later. At that point, thousands of residents in nearby Fulton and Gwinnett Counties had already left their homes to go to school, work, doctor’s appointments, and more, unsure why the air smelled adjacent to a swimming pool.

The Atlanta Fire Rescue Department conducted air quality tests Monday afternoon to detect chlorine and other chemicals in the air across the city. They said they’ve found “no immediate life safety issues,” but didn’t provide further information about chlorine levels. They also have requested additional testing from state and federal agencies.

Georgia’s Department of Public Health has added that there is “no significant toxicity identified in the smoke” so far, but that people with heart or lung disease may be particularly affected and experience symptoms, such as shortness of breath.

**What’s next?**

While the immediate focus is on cleaning up the damaged facility, there are still a lot of unanswered questions about how the BioLab fire will affect neighboring communities in the future.

Currently, there is no publicly available information about how much chlorine has escaped into the air or what levels local residents are being exposed to.

Long-term exposure to chlorine can cause prolonged health issues such as potentially irreparable lung damage. Even a one-time exposure to high levels of chlorine can have negative health effects, which makes the question of how much is currently in the air over Georgia only more pressing.

This isn’t the first fire to break out at this BioLab plant in Conyers — there have been at least three in the past two decades. The last fire happened just four years ago. It raises the question of accountability, whether the plant has done anything to meaningfully prevent these disasters, and the impact of repeated exposure to chemical fires and leaks on communities.

It’s also too early to tell what, if any, accountability BioLab will face after this fire. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the chairman of Rockdale County’s governing body, Oz Nesbitt, said that the Board of Commissioners will be speaking with BioLab’s leadership about “their safety and their mitigation plan and their security plan inside their operations.”

While multiple agencies responding to the incident have assured residents that the fire poses little to no harm to human health, many residents are unsatisfied and have left comments on Rockdale County’s Facebook page expressing their concern and frustration about the uncertainties.

“Who is going to jail over this?” wrote one commenter. “Just asking, considering how many people are going to be injured by this, and how much damage will be done to the local environments? This facility is a known problem, and has been for years.”

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## Chlorine found in air after chemical plant fire. Here's what to know about exposure | Georgia Public Broadcasting

https://www.gpb.org/news/2024/09/30/chlorine-found-in-air-after-chemical-plant-fire-heres-what-know-about-exposure | https://www.gpb.org

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A giant plume of heavy fog hangs in the air after a fire at a chemical plant Sunday in Conyers, which is about 30 miles east of Atlanta.

The county’s Emergency Management Agency asked roughly 17,000 residents living between Sigman Road and Interstate 20 to evacuate, director Sharon Webb said. The agency also sent an alert to people living neighboring Newton County.

All residents of Rockdale County were strongly advised to bring pets inside, shelter in place with windows closed, air conditioning off and ceiling fans on.

All warnings and advisories expired by Monday, but Rockdale County schools closed, and Gwinnett County schools canceled outdoor activities for the day.

BioLab, a manufacturer of pool and spa treatment supplies, has not confirmed which chemicals were involved, but state and federal agencies revealed chlorine, a toxic gas with corrosive properties.

A fire at the same BioLab plant temporarily closed I-20 in September 2020.

Chlorine helps keep swimming pools clean and healthy, but even at low concentrations, chlorine has the potential to cause serious harm to the hair, skin, and eyes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Chlorine has also been used as a chemical warfare choking agent.

Around 5 a.m., a malfunctioned sprinkler head at BioLab’s plant “came in contact with a water-reactive chemical and produced a plume,” county officials posted on the county website.

Sodium hypochlorite, which is a component of commercial bleaches, cleaning solutions, and disinfectants for drinking water and wastewater purification systems and swimming pools, releases chlorine gas when it contacts acids, according to the CDC.

Chronic exposure, usually in the workplace, could corrode teeth. Multiple exposures to chlorine have produced flu-like symptoms and a high risk of developing reactive airways dysfunction syndrome (RADS). While chlorine has not been classified for carcinogenic effects, the association of cigarette smoking and chlorine fumes may increase the risk of cancer.

**How long does chlorine poisoning take to set in?**

There are no specific medical tests to determine whether you have been exposed to chlorine gas, and treatment involves supporting the respiratory system.

Symptoms may be apparent immediately or delayed for a few hours.

Rapidly changing blood pressure and an irregular heartbeat signify severe exposure, and cardiovascular collapse may occur from lack of oxygen, according to the CDC.

Signs of pulmonary edema, fluid buildup in the lungs, show up about two to four hours a moderate exposure and 30 to 60 minutes following a severe exposure.

Children may be more vulnerable to corrosive agents than adults because of the smaller diameter of their airways.

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## Georgia chemical plant fire forces thousands to evacuate | AXIOS

https://www.axios.com/2024/09/30/georgia-chemical-fire-evacuations | https://www.axios.com

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Smoke rises after a chemical fire broke out on the roof of a BioLab plant, forcing mandatory evacuations and road closures in Conyers, Georgia, on Sept. 29. Photo: Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images

A chemical plant fire that ignited Sunday has left more than 90,000 residents of a Georgia county sheltering in place.

**The big picture:** Air quality surveys detected chlorine, a harmful irritant, in the air emitting from the Conyers, Georgia, BioLab facility, prompting business and road closures across Rockdale County, an area east of Atlanta.

- The Environmental Protection Agency is monitoring air quality for chlorine, but officials noted the chemical levels are unlikely to harm most people.

**The latest:** Atlanta Fire Rescue said in a statement Monday afternoon that the agency is monitoring for "potential volatile organic compounds," such as chlorine and hydrogen sulfide, and had identified "no immediate life safety issues."

- Tests are continuing throughout the city, the statement said, adding the haze has started to clear.

**Catch up quick:** A shelter-in-place order for Rockdale County was extended indefinitely Monday morning.

- Around 17,000 people have been evacuated, officials said at a Sunday news conference.
- No BioLab employees were injured, per a statement from the company, which manufactures pool and spa treatment products.
- Households sheltering in place are recommended to keep air conditioning off and windows and doors shut, officials say.

**What they're saying:** Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel said the fire was under control by Sunday afternoon, but the massive plume of smoke, a chemical reaction, will probably be seen for "several days."

- The initial call came in early Sunday morning, McDaniel said, when a small fire began. That fire was initially contained but reignited.
- Water from a sprinkler system reacted with the chemicals, McDaniel said, prompting the plume that now looms along the city's horizon.
- The cloud of smoke was visible around 30 miles away from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

**BioLab said in a statement** its "teams are working around-the-clock to respond to the ongoing situation."

- As the company works with local authorities, it has also "deployed specialized teams from out of state to the site to bolster and support their efforts," per the company statement.

**The cause of the fire** has yet to be determined, officials said, but did not rule out the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which tore through the southeast.

**Flashback:** This is the third incident in seven years where a fire has ignited at the plant, according to the AJC.

- In 2004, smoke from the plant forced similar evacuations, per local reports.

**Zoom out:** Schools in surrounding areas have been closed due to the size of the evacuation zone and the closure of I-20, which was reopened Monday.

- Piedmont Rockdale Hospital remained open, but some patients were moved to other facilities, Sharon Webb, the director of the Emergency Management Agency for Rockdale County, said.

**What we're watching:** Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, responding to an X post saying residents can see "haze and smell chlorine in town," wrote that Atlanta Fire Rescue will be deployed with "detectors to various spots east to see what is in the air."

- He added that "a change wind direction" may have blown "some of the Conyers fire residuals our way."

**Go deeper:** Massive fire at Illinois chemical plant prompts evacuations

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## Conyers BioLab: Thousands told to stay home a day after chemical plant fire | CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/29/us/rockdale-county-biolab-fire-georgia/index.html | https://www.cnn.com

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Thousands of people were told to stay home with their windows shut Monday after a fire at a Georgia industrial plant caused a chemical reaction that prompted around 17,000 people to evacuate Sunday and left potentially harmful chlorine lingering in the air.

Residents and businesses were told to evacuate the area around the BioLab plant in Conyers after the blaze broke out early Sunday morning. A shelter-in-place advisory is ongoing for around 90,000 people in surrounding Rockdale County.

The plume from the chemical reaction that followed the outbreak of the fire could be seen for miles – and officials on Monday were cautioning those still in the area to stay indoors with their windows closed and air conditioners off. BioLab manufacturers pool and spa treatment products.

Air quality surveys conducted by state and federal agencies “revealed the harmful irritant chlorine” coming from the facility, county officials said in a news release Monday morning. Exposure to chlorine can cause burning of the eyes, nose and mouth, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It can also lead to coughing, choking, nausea, vomiting, headache and dizziness.

Officials in Georgia have declared a local area emergency. The Environmental Protection Agency is monitoring air quality for chlorine, though officials have found that current chemicals levels are unlikely to cause most people harm.

County facilities in Rockdale County remained closed Monday.

Residents in nearby counties have also reported the smell of bleach or chemicals in the air.

Officials in Fulton County, to the west of Rockdale County, are investigating reports of a haze and a strong chemical smell believed to be related to the plume from the plant, Atlanta-Fulton County Emergency Management said Monday.

Officials in Atlanta are conducting air quality checks. Conyers is about 30 miles east of Atlanta.

So far, air quality tests have been within “acceptable levels,” the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department said Monday afternoon.

In Gwinnett County, to the north of Conyers, residents also reported a haze and chemical smell. Meanwhile Newton County, to the south of the plant, closed its schools and offices Monday. To the west of the plant, some schools and daycare centers in Dekalb County closed their doors Monday.

Interstate 20 near the plant reopened in both directions Monday after authorities shut down portions of the highway Sunday citing “unpredictable path and wind direction, which could change the direction of the irritants in the air.”

The EPA’s network of air quality monitors around metro Atlanta showed moderate to high levels of small particulate air pollution around the city on Monday morning. Small particles can lodge deep into the lungs and aggravate lung conditions like asthma. They are also tiny enough to cross into the bloodstream where they contribute to heart attacks and strokes.

A permanent air monitor in Lawrenceville showed a level of 153 on Monday, making it unhealthy for anyone to breathe. An air sensor in Decatur also read high initially but had dropped to moderate levels by mid-afternoon. At moderate levels, people who are sensitive to air pollution, such as those with asthma, should stay indoors. Others should limit their outdoor activity, according to the AirNow website.

“I am seeing that there are other pollutant concentrations, pollutant levels, that are elevated in certain parts of the city right now that are probably also associated with that release,” from the Biolab facility, said Jeremy Sarnat, an assistant professor of environmental and occupational health at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.

However, EPA crews on the ground did not see any traces of the chemicals of concern – chlorine and hydrochloric acid – in the currently available data, Bryan Vasser, an on-scene coordinator with the agency, said Monday afternoon.

“We didn’t see concentrations of those chemicals in the air that would exceed an action level for us … or that would seem unsafe to the public,” Vasser said.

He indicated air monitoring continues on site, in the evacuation zone and beyond to determine whether ongoing evacuations and shelter-in-place orders are appropriate.

The fire broke out on the roof of the plant around 5 a.m. Sunday. Water from what officials earlier described as a malfunctioning sprinkler head “came in contact with a water reactive chemical and produced a plume,” county officials said in a statement.

Firefighters were able to contain the fire, but it reignited hours later, Rockdale County Sheriff Eric Levett said in a video message posted on Facebook.

The fire was extinguished around 4 p.m., Rockdale County Fire and Rescue Chief Marian McDaniel said, but the building’s roof later collapsed.

While the fire is completely out, crews are dousing the building with water to control any possible hot spots as debris is moved, McDaniel said Monday in a video message posted on Facebook.

Some of the affected product was removed from the building after the initial fire was put out, she explained, but the rest will be removed once the structure is brought down.

“There is nothing that we can do or will be done to make this 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. Off-gassing is when a material releases chemicals into the air.

KIK Consumer Products, which owns BioLab, said its employees at the plant are all accounted for and no injuries were reported.

“We continue to work collaboratively with first responders and local authorities and have deployed specialized teams from out of state to the site to bolster and support their efforts. We are all focused on remediating the situation as rapidly as possible,” the company said in a statement Monday.

It was an “all hands on deck” situation Sunday, Rockdale County Chairman Oz Nesbitt told CNN’s Jessica Dean. “All of our resources have been dispatched and deployed,” Nesbitt said.

Nesbitt described the damage as a “complete collapse.”

The Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency is responding to the incident, Garrison Douglas, a spokesperson for Gov. Brian Kemp’s office, told CNN on Monday.

“The governor is receiving regular updates from local, state, and federal partners and wants to thank the hardworking responders who are prioritizing this incident in addition to the ongoing storm recovery efforts,” Douglas said in a statement.

In September 2020, BioLab experienced a “thermal decomposition event” that also led to a fire that temporarily closed I-20.

In its final report on that incident, the US Chemical Safety Board found strong winds from Hurricane Laura damaged the lab’s warehouse, allowing rainwater into the building. The water came in contact with a chemical and initiated a reaction that caused the fire.

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## Fire at Rockdale County BioLab in Georgia Prompts Evacuations - The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/29/us/chemical-bio-lab-fire-georgia.html | https://www.nytimes.com

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**Plume From Chemical Plant Fire Reaches Atlanta**

Officials said the plume was not a threat to the city, but schools were closed near Conyers, Ga., where a fire at a chemical plant started on Sunday.

Chemical Plant in Georgia Emits Thick Cloud of Smoke

The plume filled the sky in Conyers, Ga., and prompted evacuation orders for thousands.

Oh my god. Oh my god. What the heck is going on? That’s like, right on top of our house. I mean it’s getting worse. So what do we do? We just evacuate?

The plume filled the sky in Conyers, Ga., and prompted evacuation orders for thousands.CreditCredit...Rockdale County Government

Published Sept. 29, 2024Updated Sept. 30, 2024, 5:17 p.m. ET

A billowing plume from a chemical plant in Conyers, Ga., that officials said contained chlorine reached parts of Atlanta on Monday, though officials said that it posed no serious safety issues to the city.

Although the fire, which broke out early Sunday morning about 30 miles east of Atlanta, was producing smells, the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department said in a statement that there were “no immediate life safety issues” for the city and that a haze was beginning to clear.

The Atlanta Fire Department was monitoring “potential volatile organic compounds,” it said, including chlorine, hydrogen sulfide, oxygen and carbon monoxide levels. The agency said it requested further testing from the city’s Environmental Protection Division.

The Environmental Protection Agency did not find dangerous levels of chlorine or hydrochloric acid in the air during the first 12 hours of the fire, Bryan Vasser, an on-scene coordinator with the agency, said during a news conference on Monday. He said a full report with the air quality data will be given to the county and state on Monday.

The Georgia Emergency Management Agency sent an alert on Monday afternoon to those within 50 miles of the facility saying it was monitoring air quality for chlorine and related compounds but that “chemical levels are unlikely to cause harm to most people.”

Meanwhile, schools near the plant were closed on Monday and 17,000 people remained under evacuation orders as officials tried to contain the spread, and the Rockdale County Emergency Management Agency extended a shelter-in-place order for about 90,000 residents.

All evacuation and shelter-in-place orders were still active on Monday afternoon.

The Atlanta-Fulton County Emergency Management Agency said in a statement on Monday morning that it was investigating “numerous reports of a haze and strong chemical smell across Fulton County,” just west of Rockdale County, that was likely related to the fire. The agency advised people who were concerned about respiratory issues to stay inside, close windows and doors and turn off heating and cooling systems.

The plume was produced by a small fire that broke out about 5:30 a.m. Sunday on the roof of a plant for BioLab, a manufacturer of pool and spa treatment products, Fire Chief Marian McDaniel of Rockdale County said at a news conference on Sunday. Air quality surveys detected chlorine in the air emitting from the lab’s location, the county said in a statement.

The fire triggered the plant’s sprinkler system, which caused water to mix with a “water-reactive chemical,” and created a large plume of smoke and chemicals, Chief McDaniel said.

The authorities previously said the sprinkler system had malfunctioned.

The cause of the fire was not immediately clear. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Interstate 20, which was closed on Sunday, reopened at 7 a.m. on Monday, according to Rockdale County.

Rockdale County’s government facilities were also closed on Monday, including parks.

Chief McDaniel said on Monday that the fire was contained on Sunday, and that a company was working to clear the debris in order to contain the product that is causing white smoke to continue to pour out from the site. She does not believe any part of the building will be left standing. Some of the chemical product has been contained and is being stored on the property, she said.

Smoke may linger for “several days,” Chief McDaniel warned on Sunday. Eric J. Levett, the Rockdale County sheriff, urged residents to stay out of the area because wind might blow smoke beyond the evacuation zone.

It was not immediately clear what health hazards the plume might pose.

“Our employees are accounted for with no injuries reported,” BioLab said in a statement on Sunday night.

What type of chemicals caused the plume and how they were being stored was not immediately clear, Chief McDaniel said. A spokesman for BioLab said he could not provide more specifics about the chemicals.

An evacuation order was in place Sunday for a large part of Conyers, according to maps posted on the county’s Facebook page.

Piedmont Rockdale Hospital in the city remained open but was moving some patients to other facilities, Sharon Webb, the director of the Emergency Management Agency for Rockdale County, said on Sunday night. The school district for Newton County, which is southeast of Rockdale County, announced it was closing its schools on Monday, and all county government offices were closed. Other schools, including in DeKalb and Gwinnett counties, are limiting outdoor activities.

When certain chemicals interact with the hydrogen and oxygen in water, intense heat can be created because hydrogen is flammable and oxygen is an oxidizer, said Wendy J. Buckley, the president of STARS Hazmat Consulting, a hazardous materials consulting company.

“That can be so hot that it can also combust nearby materials and the reaction can be explosive,” Ms. Buckley said. “It can also release flammable, toxic or otherwise hazardous gases.”

Image

Smoke from a chemical plant in Conyers, Ga., on Sunday, prompted evacuation orders.Credit...Rockdale County Government

City officials said that state emergency teams were helping but that resources were stretched thin because of the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Chief McDaniel said that this was “the third incident of this magnitude” at the plant in the seven years she has been in her role.

In September 2020, a plume of hazardous chemicals was released at the Conyers plant, exposing company workers and nine firefighters to “dangerous fumes, and caused a portion of I-20 near the facility to be closed for approximately six hours,” according to the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board report.

Surrounding businesses were evacuated and the estimated property damage was more than $1 million, the report said.

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## Georgia BioLab plant fire sparks evacuations after plume releases chlorine | The Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/09/30/conyers-ga-chemical-plant-fire/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com

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A poisonous plume of chlorine from a manufacturing plant with a history of hazardous incidents led authorities to order tens of thousands of people to evacuate or huddle inside their homes Monday as authorities in the Atlanta area shut down schools and government offices.

County officials said Monday morning that air-quality surveys from the Environmental Protection Agency and the state Environmental Protection Division “revealed the harmful irritant chlorine” about 24 hours after a small fire broke out at the BioLab manufacturing plant in Conyers, about 20 miles southeast of Atlanta, sparking a chain reaction that would send a billowing cloud of gas into the air.

Authorities urged Rockdale County residents to shelter in place and recommended that businesses close. On Sunday, they ordered the evacuation of about 17,000 residents near the facility and issued a stay-at-home order that affected about 77,000 others as officials in Atlanta braced for the plume to waft in their direction.

In a video showing a cloud rising from rubble Monday afternoon, Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel said the fire was out and the worst was over.

“There is nothing that we can do or will be done to make this product any worse than it already is,” McDaniel said on social media, referring to the chemicals that were once housed inside the partially collapsed plant. “So it is off gassing, but once we can get it removed from the building, from the water source, \[and place it\] in a secure area, then we will see a better diminishing of the clouds.”

Part of the chemical products, McDaniel said, had been removed before the fire rekindled Sunday. The rest will have to wait until the debris from the destroyed parts of the plant is cleared up. Those areas, she added, are being doused with water to “control any hot spots.” A plume will probably be visible for several days, she said earlier.

The clouds had drifted to Atlanta, where Jennette Gayer, director of the advocacy group Environment Georgia, lives. She said she could see the strange haze and smell the chlorine outside Monday afternoon.

She said the state should reintroduce and pass legislation to block companies that have “a dangerous track record” and ensure that local and federal environmental agencies have resources to punish the ones that pollute the environment.

BioLab said in a statement that all of its employees are accounted for and that no one had reported injuries. The company said its top priority is “ensuring the community’s safety.”

“Our teams are working around-the-clock to respond to the ongoing situation at our facility in Conyers, Georgia,” the statement on the BioLab website said. “We continue to work collaboratively with first responders and local authorities and have deployed specialized teams from out of state to the site to bolster and support their efforts. We are all focused on remediating the situation as rapidly as possible.”

A spokesperson for the company, which makes pool-cleaning products, declined to comment further Monday morning.

Gov. Brian Kemp (R), who was surveying the areas damaged by Hurricane Helene on Monday, is “receiving regular updates from local, state, and federal partners” that are responding to and investigating the incident, his spokesperson Garrison Douglas said in a statement to The Washington Post.

Videos shared online show greenish-orange plumes of gas billowing out of the facility and blanketing the sky.

The Post could not immediately verify the provenance of those videos or the contents of the plume, but the colors are a telltale sign of chlorine, said Sadis Matalon, a professor of anesthesiology and perioperative medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s medical school.

“When you see that greenish cloud, you need get as far away as possible,” said Matalon, who researches pulmonary injuries.

Chlorine can cause eyes to burn and noses to run, Matalon said. In high concentrations, it can impair breathing and cause fluid to build in the lungs. Pregnant animals experienced stillbirths or severe growth restrictions when exposed to chlorine, according to Matalon’s research.

In severe cases, chlorine can be deadly, he said.

“Chlorine by itself really causes long term effects. And if you have preexisting conditions like asthma or any kind of respiratory infection, it can make the situation much worse,” Matalon said.

Long-term effects include hypertension and respiratory complications. Matalon said people who are exposed and are having trouble breathing should seek medical attention.

On Monday afternoon, a lingering chemical smell and haze were reported in several Georgia counties, including DeKalb, Gwinnett and Fulton, where Atlanta sits — prompting air quality tests.

Officials in Gwinnett County said their hazardous material team had not yet “detected anything hazardous.” The chemical smell there was expected to “dissipate in a couple of hours” as the winds shift, the county posted online.

Fulton County had a similar message: “Current data suggests that chemical levels in the air are unlikely to cause harm to most people.”

Rockdale County, where BioLab is located, closed its government buildings and parks for the day.

At about 5:30 a.m. Sunday, a small fire broke out on the roof of the BioLab manufacturing plant, which produces chlorine products for pools and spas, according to authorities. Firefighters contained that fire and started removing product from the building, McDaniel said Sunday at a news conference. The fire reignited midday, forcing firefighters to work for another two to three hours to get it back under control. The plant’s roof and some of its walls collapsed, McDaniel said.

The chlorine products stymied efforts to squelch the fire, McDaniel said, because the water firefighters used to beat back the blaze activated the chlorine, sending plumes of it into the air.

“We’ve been fighting the fire with water; the water’s been aggravating the chemical,” McDaniel said.

Authorities issued an evacuation and shelter-in-place order for nearly 100,000 people, directives that remained more than 24 hours after the fire started. They advised people not to run their air conditioning because it might suck in the chlorine-tainted air. Two emergency shelters have been opened for evacuees.

Sunday’s fire was at least the third hazmat incident in the past two decades at BioLab’s Conyers plant, which opened in 1973. In 2013, the company was purchased by KIK Consumer Products, which is based in Lawrenceville, Ga., specializes in making cleaners, bleach and laundry and dish detergents.

On May 25, 2004, a fire at one of the Conyers warehouses containing pool chemicals led to evacuations of up to a 1½ mile radius and shut down I-20 for several hours. The effect of the plume was felt more than 50 miles away, according to the EPA.

On Sept. 14, 2020, a plume of hazardous chemicals was released, exposing BioLab employees and nine firefighters to dangerous fumes, shutting down part of I-20 for six hours and causing more than $1 million in damage, according to a report the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board released last year. On Sept. 18, four days later, there was a similar incident in which no one was hurt.

In the report, federal investigators cited several safety problems with BioLab’s operations, including with its fire protection system, which was impaired by a broken water pump and an inadequate power supply for the remaining pumps, the report states. Those problems caused a 5½-hour delay in getting firefighters the water they needed to attack the chemical fire.

That delay probably led to the release of more toxic chlorine and more of the facility being damaged, according to the report.

According to the EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) database, the facility received two state notices for violating the Clean Air Act this year. In 2019, the facility received a notice of violation that noted “inadequate space to allow unobstructed movement of fire protection equipment, spill control equipment, and decontamination equipment,” the Georgia Environmental Protection Division reported.

According to U.S. Census Bureau data, more than half the residents in a one-mile radius of the facility are African American. About 78 percent are people of color. A banner on the ECHO website indicates that the community raises “Potential Environmental Justice Concerns” for the inherently vulnerable and those near the facility. The community surrounding the plant is within the top 10 percent in the country for environmental justice issues, according to the ECHO data.

Vulnerable residents in the area are within the top 2 percent for elevated air toxics cancer risk and top five percent for exposure to toxic releases in the air, according to ECHO data.

Abel Russ, an attorney at the watchdog Environmental Integrity Project, said the facility had a pattern “of sloppy management of hazardous materials.”

“This is exactly the poster child for an environmental justice community,” Russ said.

Federal investigators also described the inherent danger of BioLab’s operations: storing large amounts of chemicals used to chlorinate pools and spas. One of BioLab’s main products is a chlorinating agent that kills algae and bacteria when dissolved in large bodies of water. If moistened with small amounts of water, it doesn’t dissolve, but undergoes a chemical reaction, decomposing the chemical and generating heat. That breakdown can produce toxic chlorine and an explosive chemical compound.

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