I just got a warning on my phone DHS, FEMA, GA ER mgmt.etc, to avoid area, etc.at 1:41 p.m.
Over 90,000 Georgia residents taking shelter after chemical fire as haze, smell spreads to Atlanta
Updated 11:06 AM EDT, September 30, 2024
CONYERS, Ga. (AP) — More than 90,000 residents east of Atlanta were told to keep sheltering in place Monday a day after a chemical plant fire sent a massive plume of dark smoke high into the sky that could been seen for miles.
The haze and chemical smell had spread to Atlanta by Monday morning, prompting firefighters to use detectors to check the quality of air in various parts of the city, Mayor Andre Dickens said.
Closer to the source of the fire, officials said chlorine, a harmful irritant, had been detected in the air from the fire at the BioLab plant in Conyers, Georgia, the Rockdale County government said in statement early Monday. The plant is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of downtown Atlanta.
“For everyone sheltering in place, the best practice is to turn the air conditioning off and keep windows and doors shut,” the statement said.
In Atlanta, officials said they believe the hazy conditions and chemical smell is “related to the BioLab fire, but why we are seeing the change in conditions is what we are attempting to figure out.”
“Latest plume modeling indicates it moving to the northeast, which it is clearly not,” the Atlanta-Fulton County Emergency Management Agency said in a statement.
ROCKDALE COUNTY CHEMICAL FIRE: I-20 closed, 17,000 in evacuation zone, residents to shelter in place
By WSBTV.com News Staff
September 29, 2024 at 9:09 pm EDT
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ROCKDALE COUNTY CHEMICAL FIRE: I-20 closed, 17,000 in evacuation zone
ROCKDALE COUNTY, Ga. — What you need to know:
About 17,000 people have been evacuated around Biolab facility.
I-20 has been shut down between Salem Road and Turner Hill Road.
Newton County Schools will be closed on Monday because of a chemical fire.
Rockdale Schools are off this week, 12-month employees will work remotely.
Smoke could be visible for several days.
EPA and the EPD are both on scene assessing the situation.
Fire started around 5:30 a.m. Sunday.
The sprinkler system reacted with a chemical inside the factory.
Roof has collapsed on building along with several walls.
Piedmont Rockdale has moved some patients, others to shelter-in-place.
What happened:
All Rockdale County residents have been ordered to shelter in place after a chemical fire broke out at the Biolab facility on Old Covington Highway.
It all started around 5:30 a.m. Sunday when a sprinkler system malfunctioned, which seems to have mixed with a chemical creating a plume. You can see the smoke billowing miles into the sky, changing colors throughout the day from black, white, red and now to a yellowish hue seen by Channel 2′s Michael Doudna on Sunday evening.
Crews got the fire under control on Sunday morning, but it reignited around 12:15 p.m.
Officials say the fire has since been put out, but the building itself has collapsed.
“The roof is collapsed in totally as well as several of the walls, which is why we have been trying to assemble it all together and move it away to make a better path to move out the product,” Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel said.
Officials are stressing that people should take this seriously.
“As the plume starts out, it could become very dangerous, and toxic. So, until we get those readings from EPA and EPD, we don’t know what those plumes consist of, so we want to keep everyone safe and away from it as much as possible,” Rockdale County Emergency Management Director Sharon Webb said.
https://apnews.com/article/biolab-chemical-plant-fire-chlorine-evacuation-9552ac17f3674ecbd1a52be13b08413f#