A chemical lab fire in Georgia requires evacuations and a countywide shelter-in-place order

Residents across Georgia County were asked to shelter in place Sunday after a fire and ongoing chemical leak at a plant east of Atlanta.

A shelter-in-place advisory for residents of Rockdale County, population 93,570, remained in effect until midnight, the county said in a statement. As a gas plume rose over the area as a result of the chemical reaction on Sunday evening, residents near the plant in Conyers, Georgia, were ordered to undergo a mandatory evacuation.

A sprinkler head failed after 5 a.m. at the BioLab plant, “causing a mixture of chemicals to react with the water,” Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel said.

“There was a small fire on the roof,” McDaniel said.

An investigation into the exact cause of the fire is ongoing, but at an afternoon news conference, the chief said the sprinkler system and then firefighters may have exacerbated the chemical reaction by pouring water on it.

“We have been putting out fires with water,” McDaniel said during the update, “but water also makes the chemical worse.”

Pointing out that the material involved in the release had not yet been confirmed, officials declined to name the chemical.

The operator KIK Consumer Products said in a statement that it was responding to the incident. The facility was found to produce Clorox brand pool cleaning products.

According to Clorox, the brand’s offer includes chlorine-based products that eliminate bacteria and algae. Chlorine is unstable and, when released, can create a gaseous and toxic cloud, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC says it also reacts with water and other chemicals.

McDaniel said that around noon, as staff were moving the product out of the facility, the fire broke out again. She added that it took another three or four hours to bring the situation under control.

“Now we have it,” the boss said.

Although the flames have died down, the chemical reaction will continue to produce a plume for “several days,” McDaniel said.

As the chief previously said, the fire department continued to remove material from the building.

Asked this afternoon whether Hurricane Helene and its aftermath may have contributed to the fire and chemical reaction, the chief said it was too early to tell.

Sharon Webb, director of the Rockdale County Emergency Management Agency, said until officials are sure what’s hidden in the plume, residents should stay put.

“It’s a precaution at this point until we find out what the plume actually is,” she said.

McDaniel explained how residents should shelter in place: “We will tell people to… close their doors and windows,” McDaniel said. “Any event, a change in the wind, it can all change really quickly.”

Videos on social media show smoke rising from the factory.

No injuries were reported outside the facility. Similarly, KIK reported in its statement that it did not record any injuries among the facility’s employees.

“Our team is on scene and working with emergency services and local authorities to assess and contain the situation,” the statement said. “As always, the safety of our community remains our top priority.”

Rockdale County officials ordered residents living between Sigman Road and Interstate 20 to evacuate Sunday morning.