The BioLab chemical fire in Conyers raised alarms in metro Atlanta, though the biggest effect of the dangerous chlorine cloud has been in Rockdale and Newton counties.
But BioLab has caught fire multiple times in the last few years and did so in a big way 20 years ago, too. The 2024 and 2004 conflagrations each had a big effect on traffic.
The BioLab fire that broke out on Sept. 29 prompted the closure of I-20 in both directions from that afternoon and into the next morning. Drivers were still navigating Hurricane Helene damage on some local streets, too.
“The challenge for inbound commuters from Covington, for instance, was to find a way around Conyers and back on I-20,” 95.5 WSB lead traffic reporter “Smilin’” Mark McKay told The Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
With alternate routes around I-20, such as Highway 278/Covington Highway and Highway 212/Browns Mill Road, filling in, both McKay and the WSB Traffic Team and the Georgia Department of Transportation encouraged drivers to take a wider route. They sent them up Highway 138 from Conyers, to Highway 81 in Loganville, and then onto Highway 78.
But traffic interruptions continued. Weather kept McKay away from the fire scene until the morning of Oct. 1. “The cloud was, at times, lying across I-20, reducing visibility. And it may have caused one multilane crash on I-20/westbound at West Ave (Exit 80). Unfortunately, the crash may have also been caused by rubberneckers who had a clear view of the cloud from the interstate,” McKay recalled.
Twenty years ago, Margo McKenna, who has reported on Atlanta traffic for a quarter century for Total Traffic, happened to be up for what she thought was a routine shift on May 25, 2004.
“We saw some unusual smoke and that’s why we went over even on that side of town,” McKenna said, noting they rarely flew as far east as Conyers back then.
That BioLab fire was also massive and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency noted in their report that the smoke shut down I-20 for several hours. McKenna, who went by Margo Johnson at that time, recalled hovering over the fire scene for a while and then being asked for a major favor.
She said the Rockdale County sheriff then wanted to get in her helicopter, where she was reporting for both TV and radio, so he could survey the scene. The Sheriff’s Office had McKenna and her pilot land inside the courtyard of the nearby Rockdale County jail. Then the story got weirder.
“Another gentleman was standing there also to get on. And then there was not enough room. So they needed the videographer for the reports. And then Cheryl White (at the Fox 5 studios) was going to talk over (the video), so I got the boot,” McKenna said with a chuckle.
“So I’m just standing there and they took off and the inmates were out, but they were not close to me. Maybe they were spread out so we could land, but I could see inmates. They’re all staring at me,” McKenna recalled. She was in her 20s then and in a helicopter with no AC in late May. She was wearing a leopard print shirt with an exposed midriff. “This was very exciting in their day.”
She soon was able to return to the skies above the scene to cover the biggest thing she would fly over in six years of regular aerial coverage.
The 2004 chemical plant fire sent dozens to the hospital as a precaution and caused an evacuation for a 1-mile radius. The airport in Covington was also evacuated.
I had watched Captain Herb Emory cover this event with Mark Arum on Channel 2 that 2004 morning. A few hours later, I met him for my first tour of WSB’s studios, got minted as an intern, and then invited for a Skycopter ride. I flew with Emory out to the smoldering scene in Conyers, in awe of both what I saw and of the fact that I was riding in the same helicopter and with the same anchor that was covering this that day.
Two decades later, this same plant has caused greater evacuations and precautions and had a longer effect on traffic. And it certainly is bringing bigger questions about how to prevent such a mess from happening again.
Doug Turnbull has covered Atlanta traffic for more than 20 years and written this column since 2017. Contact him at FireballTurnbull@gmail.com.
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