A fire at a chemical plant in Rockdale County sent a colossal plume of smoke into the sky on Sunday and has indefinitely upended daily life in that area.
The fire at BioLab, a chemical facility on Old Covington Road in Conyers, led to the evacuation order of about 17,000 people and several road closures, including I-20, on Sunday afternoon. The interstate reopened by Monday morning, but several roads remain closed, and the plume of smoke — now a chemical reaction and not a fire — will remain visible for several days.
A shelter-in-place order remains in effect for all of Rockdale County, which has a population of just over 90,000, according to the 2020 census. It is not clear when that order will lift.
“In the best interest and safety of the public and all citizens, it is recommended that businesses close operations until shelter-in-place is lifted,” county officials said Monday. " For everyone sheltering in place, the best practice is to turn the air conditioning off and keep windows and doors shut.”
Officials in Fulton and Gwinnett counties also reported hazy skies and a chemical odor Monday.
Gwinnett County said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency did not pick up “anything of concern” on mobile monitors set up around the county. The county said EPA is recommending anyone in the direct plume to stay inside but are not recommending a shelter in place in Gwinnett County at this time.
Photos showed a massive plume of smoke in the sky that was visible from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport — about 30 miles away.
What caused the fire?
It is unclear what sparked the fire, which started on the facility’s roof Sunday morning. It was initially extinguished but reignited that afternoon, triggering the building’s sprinkler system, which then caused water to mix with a water-reactive chemical.
Workers had already been trying to move the chemical away from the water source but had not done so by the time the fire reignited.
The flames were brought under control by 4 p.m., and the plant’s roof and walls have since collapsed. No injuries were reported, though some employees were inside the plant at the time of the fire.
What chemicals were released?
What we know as of Monday morning is that chlorine was released into the air, but environmental officials are still investigating the extent of the exposure.
An air quality survey conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division, “revealed the harmful irritant chlorine, which was detected in the air emitting from the incident location of BioLab.”
According to the company’s website, BioLab “is the swimming pool and spa water care division of KIK Consumer Products.” That company is based in Lawrenceville.
Has this happened before?
Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel said it was the third such incident of “this magnitude,” at the plant in at least seven years.
In September 2020, a “TCCA reaction and decomposition” caused another plume of hazardous chemicals to be released into the air at the Conyers plant, exposing facility personnel and nine firefighters to “dangerous fumes,” according to a U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board report.
Surrounding businesses were evacuated and a section of I-20 was closed for about six hours. The report stated another decomposition involving TCCA happened four days later at the plant, but no one was injured.
“TCCA is used throughout the country in pool care and, when put in large bodies of water such as a pool, breaks down slowly, releasing chlorine in the water,” the report added. “However, when TCCA comes into contact with small amounts of water and does not dissolve, it can undergo a chemical reaction that generates heat, causing the decomposition of TCCA, which produces toxic chlorine gas.”
It is not clear if the same chemical was involved in Sunday’s incident.
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