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.
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 77,000 residents.
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.
The water-reactive chemical was still creating a plume, and emergency responders were working to move the chemical from the water, Chief McDaniel said Sunday evening. The roof and several walls in BioLab’s plant had collapsed.
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.”
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.
The post Plume From Chemical Plant Fire Reaches Atlanta appeared first on New York Times.
