Authorities in a Georgia county located east of Atlanta announced on Monday that they will extend a shelter-in-place advisory indefinitely due to a chemical plant fire in the area that has been emitting large plumes of black smoke since Sunday morning.
On Sunday, authorities confirmed that a fire in Conyers started at the BioLab plant, which manufactures pool and spa products, was emitting large plumes of smoke that may contain at least one harmful chemical, chlorine, throughout the metro Atlanta area. There have been no reports of injuries.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Sunday carried out air quality surveys of the area and detected that chlorine, a harmful irritant chemical, was emitting from the burning plant, the county said.
“For everyone sheltering in place, the best practice is to turn the air conditioning off and keep windows and doors shut,” the county said.
More than 90,000 residents east of Atlanta are estimated to be under the shelter-in-place advisory. People in the northern part of Rockdale County, north of Interstate 20, were ordered to evacuate on Sunday, and others were told to shelter in place.
“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,” he wrote on the platform.
Authorities have not released information regarding the exact levels of chlorine in the air.
That incident also “caused a portion of Interstate 20 near the facility to be closed for approximately six hours,” and surrounding businesses were evacuated, the report said. Four days later, “a second decomposition” involving the acid occurred at the plant with no reported injuries, it added.
The Epoch Times contacted BioLab for comment on Monday but didn’t receive a reply by publication time.
“We are actively responding to an occurrence at our facility in Conyers, Georgia,” a BioLab spokesperson told several local media outlets on Monday. “Our employees are accounted for with no injuries reported. Our team is on the scene, working with first responders and local authorities to assess and contain the situation. As always, the safety of our community remains our top priority.”