Atlanta residents told to shelter inside as chlorine fire smoke covers city in haze

Atlanta officials are warning residents to stay indoors and keep windows shut as a massive smoke plume from a chemical plant fire shifts towards the city on Thursday.

The smoke contains chlorine which can irritate eyes and airways, cause shortness of breath and breathing difficulties and headaches, particularly for those who already have heart and lung conditions.

Health professionals recommended limiting outdoor activity, staying indoors, and keeping windows closed Thursday morning.

On Sunday, a fire broke out at the BioLab chemical plant in Conyers, Georgia, sending a thick plume of black smoke into the air. While the blaze is now under control, material at the factory has continued to smolder. Conyers is around 25 miles east of Atlanta, a city of half a million residents.

“Thursday morning, metro Atlanta residents may notice a haze and a chlorine smell due to the shifting of winds. This information is subject to change based on weather conditions,” Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens warned in a video on Wednesday.

Earlier this week, the chlorine smoke closed schools and led to a shelter-in-place order for more than 90,000 residents east of Atlanta while some were told to evacuate after emergency officials found the BioLab facility showed “some exceedances above the action level for chlorine.”

Businesses closed after air conditioning pulled the smoke inside, WSBTV reported Wednesday. The Georgia Poison Center has taken nearly 700 calls about the fire since it broke out this weekend.

On Wednesday, heavy smoke caused low visibility across Interstate 20 east of Atlanta. In Rockdale County, emergency officials recommended residents shelter in place from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., during hours when smoke tends to settle closer to the ground.

One resident, who drives past the BioLab facility on her way to work, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution she has chemical burns on her throat and vocal chords from exposure.

“I definitely was in a tremendous amount of pain and not able to talk at all,” she said. “Every time I laid down, I thought it felt like I was going to suffocate, like it felt like my lungs were just collapsing in.”

A lawsuit was filed against BioLab on Monday, seeking damages for more than 90,000 residents in Conyers, Georgia, and surrounding areas.

The cause of the plant fire is under investigation, according to Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel. There were employees inside the plant when the blaze broke out but no injuries were reported.

BioLab makes pool and spa treatement products and has seen other fires since the complex opened in 1973. In 2004, warehouse explosions led to the evacuation of 300 people, and a chemical fire in 2020 prompted a shutdown of Interstate 20.

With reporting from The Associated Press