By The New York Times (U.S.) | Created at 2024-09-29 21:37:12 | Updated at 2024-09-30 03:22:54
6 hours ago
U.S.|Huge Plume From Chemical Plant in Georgia Prompts Evacuations
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/29/us/chemical-bio-lab-fire-georgia.html
A sprinkler malfunction combined with a “water-reactive chemical” in the plant set off the plume, prompting evacuations for large parts of Conyers, Ga., officials said.
Sept. 29, 2024, 5:17 p.m. ET
A billowing plume from a chemical plant in Conyers, Ga., prompted an evacuation order on Sunday for a large portion of the city, which has about 17,000 people, and a shutdown of a six-mile stretch of the I-20 highway, officials said.
A sprinkler head malfunctioned inside the BioLab plant at 5 a.m. on Sunday, Fire Chief Marian McDaniel of Rockdale County said at a news conference. The water mixed with a “water-reactive chemical,” which in turn produced a plume, the chief said.
There were no immediate reports of injuries. It was unclear how many residents were evacuating.
However, an evacuation order was in place Sunday afternoon for a large part of Conyers, according to maps posted on the county’s Facebook page. The city is about 25 miles outside of Atlanta.
What type of chemicals caused the plume and how they were being stored was not immediately clear, Chief McDaniel said. BioLab officials did not immediately respond to phone calls and emails for comment.
A small fire also broke out on the roof of the plant but that fire was contained “quite quickly,” Chief McDaniel said. The fire later reignited, according to Eric J. Levett, the Rockdale County sheriff.
“The fire has started again,” Sheriff Levett said in a video message on Sunday afternoon as he stood on the side of a busy road. “It’s burning pretty good and we are trying to get that under control.”
As he spoke, Sheriff Levett gestured to a billow of smoke rising up to the sky behind him. A fire truck, interrupting him, blared its siren and cleared traffic as it moved past.
Emergency teams were working to separate the chemical materials from the water Chief McDaniel said.
“We have about 60 folks over there working through this, so it’s going to be a long process but we are here until the end,” she said.
BioLab manufactures “pool and spa treatment products,” according to an investigative report by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board into a 2020 incident at the plant.
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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 Interstate 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.
