A chemical fire at a BioLab sends dangerous clouds of sulfuric acid into the air and prompts mandatory evacuations in Conyers GA, United States on September 30, 2024.
Peter Zay | Anadolu | Getty Images
Fog and a smell of chlorine are likely to descend on Atlanta on Thursday as officials struggle to contain the effects of fire in a chemical laboratory which flared up on Sunday.
Air quality monitoring detected elevated chlorine levels overnight around a BioLab facility in Conyers, Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security he said in a press release Wednesday.
With weather models predicting a wind shift, there’s a good chance people across metro Atlanta will wake up Thursday morning to seeing fog and smelling chlorine, the agency said.
The cause of the increased chlorine levels was a fire that started on the roof of the BioLab plant in Conyersin Rockdale County, at 5 a.m. Sunday. It has been extinguished, but the resulting release of chemical gas led to a county-wide shelter-in-place order, population 93,570as well as mandatory evacuation orders for the residents near the factory.
While air quality findings announced Wednesday were above the action level for chlorine, the emergency management agency said workers at the site continued to make progress neutralizing the product. Periodic increases in chlorine levels around the facilities are expected as the process continues, it said.
Winds are forecast to begin shifting from the east to the west after sunset Wednesday, and the smoke is expected to settle toward the ground as it approaches Atlanta, which is about 30 miles west of Conyers. However, as the air picks up Thursday afternoon and evening, the smell and fog should dissipate, emergency management said.
Smoke containing chlorine compounds can cause eye and airway irritation and other symptoms. People with heart or lung disease may experience additional symptoms, such as chest pain, shortness of breath, or fatigue. Emergency management advises people to limit smoke exposure by staying indoors and keeping indoor air as clean as possible.
Rockdale County residents have since gone to social media to express their frustration with the situation, with comments such as, “But driving this mess on fire and working here makes me feel like I’m going to develop a third eye soon” and “I already know a lot of people with lung/chest pain and more complications from this in the areas that are said to “take refuge in place”.
Thomas Chastain, who works directly across the street from the BioLab plant, said he knows a few people who have had breathing problems. He also said the county is sending conflicting messages.
“It’s a very irritating situation for all of us citizens,” he said. “We get a hundred messages a day, and one says it’s safe, and then the next one says, ‘Oh, it’s not safe.’
Chastain also said community members are calling for BioLab to be removed from Rockdale.
The emergency management agency said chlorine levels in the air are at safe levels.
Some state and federal agencies, including the state emergency management office and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, continue to monitor air quality in the Atlanta area using the Trace Atmospheric Gas Analyzeran autonomous mobile laboratory capable of real-time monitoring of outdoor air or emissions.
Anyone experiencing symptoms such as nose, throat or eye irritation or difficulty breathing can call the Georgia Poison Control Center hotline at 404-856-6252.