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Conyers, Georgia, is dealing with a toxic chemical fire which simply doesn’t want to go out. They’re evacuating everyone downwind on Sunday and aren’t sure when anyone will be able to return home. Crews thought they had it extinguished but it blazed back up. BioLab “is the swimming pool and spa water care division of KIK Consumer Product.” There are some chemicals you simply don’t want to mix with water.
Massive chemical fire
Not many people realize that water can start a fire. Everything at Biolab was fine until about 5 a.m., when “a sprinkler head malfunctioned.” Normally, that only makes a big mess.
This time, it “mixed with a water-reactive chemical.” Authorities aren’t saying which one but there’s a long list of substances which could do the job. It appears that electrical wiring in the vicinity of the unplanned mixture was a contributing factor to the explosion.
According to Rockdale County fire Chief Marian McDaniel, her crews are “working on removing the material away from the water source at the facility.” So far, the blaze was “contained to the roof.”
She relates that employees were inside the facility when the incident happened but “no injuries have been reported at this time.” The plan was to “get that chemical out of the building and allow it to burn off.” At one point, crews thought they had it contained.
Deputies inform that “the fire eventually reignited after being contained earlier Sunday.” Rockdale Sheriff Eric Levett couldn’t have asked for a more dramatic backdrop to his news conference.
As the sheriff was “strongly” advising “residents to stay away from the area,” the plume of smoke turned ominously orange. As if on cue. Locals weren’t happy to hear about the evacuation zone officials created “for a large portion of Conyers.”
Interstate backed up
Traffic was snarled, Sheriff Levett also reported, with graphics. “The interstate as you can see is backed up. We are working with the Georgia State Patrol and Georgia Department of Public Safety to assist with traffic control.” Traffic was tied up a lot tighter than usual “as drivers tried to navigate the closed roads and section of the interstate.”
Chief McDaniel noted this was the third huge fire “in which a product mixed with water and started a chemical reaction at the plant.” The last time was in 2021.
While nobody knows for sure exactly what’s in the plume of smoke rising over Rockdale County, Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency “issued a shelter in place order on behalf of Rockdale’s emergency management agency.”
Nobody has a clue when they might issue an all-clear to return home. The EPA is enroute. They’ll soon “be sampling the plume to determine its contents.” The fire “led to the cancellation of church services from Rockbridge to the Northside County line.”
A BioLab representative issued a statement prepared by their lawyers. “We are actively responding to an occurrence at our facility in Conyers, Georgia.” Working to control the damage in more ways than one.
“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.” Maybe now they’ll replace their fire sprinklers with something that doesn’t spray water.
