Amidst the devastation and massive flooding caused by Hurricane Helen, the Atlanta metropolitan area was struck by yet another disaster. The chemical fire released large quantities of potentially toxic gases into the air. And it’s spreading.
A fire broke out early Sunday morning at BioLab, a chemical plant that specializes in pool and spa water management in Conyers, Rockdale County, just 30 miles east of Atlanta. The cause of the fire is unknown at the time of publication, but local fire officials say water from the sprinkler system activated reacted with various chemicals inside the building.
Around 11 a.m. ET on Sunday, authorities asked all church services to close. Air tests conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Georgia Division of Environmental Protection found chlorine near the facility, leading to multiple local road closures and by about 1 p.m. Approximately 17,000 people were ordered to evacuate. Chlorine is a toxic gas that can have short- and long-term health effects. The fire reignited around noon as first responders were initially extinguishing the fire and removing product from the facility.
“We are all focused on remediating the situation as quickly as possible,” the company said in its latest statement.
Officials then issued a shelter-in-place order for Rockdale County, a county of about 90,000 people, late Sunday evening. Fulton County, which includes parts of Atlanta, reported a “haze and strong chemical odor” this morning, which local officials said was likely caused by the biolab fire.
Acute exposure to chlorine gas can cause a variety of symptoms, including coughing, eye and nose irritation, skin irritation, and a burning sensation in the chest, but multiple government agencies have concluded that airborne chlorine is not a threat to most people. He said no. At the time of publication, health authorities have not identified specific high-risk populations, such as people with pre-existing respiratory conditions.
All of this happened in the aftermath of Hurricane Helen, leaving local authorities lacking resources and communication. This is alarming about what can happen when multiple disasters occur simultaneously and highlights the need to be better prepared for such events.
Delay in official communication
Rockdale County remains under a shelter-in-place order. Officials have advised local residents to keep windows and doors closed and air conditioners turned off, possibly to prevent toxic gases from entering. All government facilities in Rockdale County are closed, as are some roads in the area. County officials advised businesses to close until shelter-in-place orders are lifted.
The county posted a video on its Facebook page showing the aftermath of the fire. The front, left and right sides of the plant were “completely destroyed,” said Marian McDaniel, the county’s fire and rescue director. She said once the debris is removed from the fire, the remaining side will be destroyed and the remaining “product” recovered from the ruins of the facility.
“There is nothing we can do, nor will we do, to make this product worse than it is,” McDaniel told reporters. The cloud and smoke should disappear once the residual chemicals are removed from the building.
But while it may take several days for the gas to dissipate, it is also moving to other parts of Georgia, including cities and towns where there were no clear instructions on what to do. That’s on top of dealing with the fallout from Helen.
Georgia Emergency Services and the Homeland Security Agency issued a local state of emergency for residents living within an 80-mile radius of the BioLab fire on Monday afternoon, 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, etc. and couldn’t figure out why the air near the pool smelled so bad.
The Atlanta Fire Department conducted air tests Monday afternoon and found chlorine and other chemicals in the air across the city. They said “no immediate life safety issues were found” but did not provide further information on chlorine levels. They also requested additional testing from state and federal agencies.
The Georgia Department of Public Health says so far “no significant toxicity has been found in the smoke,” but people with heart or lung conditions are particularly affected and may experience symptoms such as shortness of breath. he added.
While the immediate focus is on cleaning up the damaged facility, there are still many unanswered questions about how the BioLab fire will impact nearby communities in the future.
Currently, there is no publicly available information about how much chlorine is leaking into the air or what levels of chlorine local residents are exposed to.
Long-term exposure to chlorine can cause long-term health problems, including potentially irreversible lung damage. Even a single exposure to high levels of chlorine can have negative health effects, making the question of how much chlorine is currently floating above Georgia even more pressing.
This is not the first time a fire has occurred at the BioLab plant in Conyers, with at least three occurring in the past 20 years. The last fire occurred exactly four years ago. This raises questions of accountability, including whether the factory has taken any action to meaningfully prevent these disasters and the impact on local communities of repeated exposure to chemical fires and spills. do.
It is also too early to tell what liability BioLab will have after this fire. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Rockdale County Governing Body Chairman Oz Nesbitt said the committee will discuss “safety, mitigation plans, safety plans within business operations” with BioLab leaders. He said it was planned.
Although multiple agencies responding to the incident assured residents that the fire posed little harm to human health, many residents remained dissatisfied and posted comments expressing concern and frustration over the uncertainty. It remains on the Rockdale County Facebook page.
“Who will go to jail for this?” one commenter wrote. “I just want to ask you, please think about how many people this is going to injure and how much damage this is going to do to the local environment.This facility is a known problem and has been around for years. It has been a problem since.”
