A fire at a Biolab pool chemical factory on Sunday sent massive plumes of smoke miles into the air, and left the city of Conyers, Ga., under evacuation orders — impacting 17,000 residents — and the remainder of the county of Rockdale (over 90,000 residents) under a shelter-in-place advisory.
As of this writing on Monday, both orders were still in place. Those sheltering in place were told to keep all doors, windows and ventilation systems shut to seal out potentially harmful airborne chemicals, especially chlorine gas which was confirmed through testing at the scene by the EPA and a Georgia state agency.
Conyers is located about 25 miles East of downtown Atlanta, and according to news reports, people in the eastside metro area could smell chlorine in the air. At the same time, a low-pressure system had pushed fog into the area and calm wind conditions were hindering the dissipation of the chemical plume.
“Atlanta Fire Rescue is going out with detectors to various spots east to see what is in the air,” said Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens. “The assumption is a change of the wind direction blowing some of the Conyers fire residuals our way. We will push out messaging as we get more info.”
News accounts of the start of the fire differ slightly, and are speculative at this time, pending an formal investigation. What is known as of this writing is that a small fire was reported at the factory at 5 a.m. on Sunday. That fire may have been triggered by a malfunctioning sprinkler discharging water on reactive chemicals, or it may have had another source.
That fire got out of hand, either driven by its own heat or by the continuing supply of water from the sprinkler system on reactive chemicals. By noon, an enormous column of oxidized chemicals was climbing into the blue sky over Conyers, drawing emergency crews and federal agencies to the scene. The conflagration was put out by 4 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.
A History of Fires
According to the EPA, the Conyers facility has experienced chemical fires before.
On May 25, 2004, the facility had a significant fire that caused the evacuation of the area within a mile radius and caused the shutdown of I-20. The effect of that plume was felt more than 50 miles away.
More recently, as most pool and spa professionals are aware, Biolab’s Lake Charles, La., factory was destroyed in a large fire on Thursday, August 27, 2020. In addition to the damage to the local area and impacts to health of area residents, this was a significant contributor to the trichlor shortage in the early years of the pandemic surge.
Thankfully, there were no direct injuries in any of these fires. In a statement, Biolab said all employees are accounted for and the company has a team on the scene, working with first responders and local authorities to assess and contain the situation.
