KWhit, everything ok? (Big chemical fire in Conyers)

[Ben E Lou]

Chemical fire in his neck of the woods. Lead story on the radio around here...



Large fire breaks out at Rockdale County chemical warehouse

The Associated Press - CONYERS, Ga.

Rockdale County residents were being ordered to evacuate their homes after a massive fire broke out in a chemical warehouse early Tuesday morning.
The fire was reported about 5 a.m. Initially the plumes of gray, green and white smoke prompting voluntary evacuations of homes and businesses within a one-mile radius. However, the evacuation area was growing throughout the morning, with deputies going door-to-door telling people to leave. By 8 a.m., sheriff's dept. spokeswoman Jodi Shupe said she could not estimate how many people had been forced to leave the area.

Multiple explosions could be seen and heard, as the fire spread through the warehouse owned by Biolab, which makes chemicals for pools and spas, as well as products for cleaning homes.

There was no immediate report of injuries.

It was not immediately clear how the fire started or what chemicals were burning, although authorities said chlorine was one of the chemicals involved.

The state Department of Transportation closed parts of Interstate 20 and all roads leading into the area, as fire crews battled the blaze. The Covington Municipal Airport, about 10 miles from Conyers, also was evacuated at around 7:30 a.m.

[Ben E Lou]

This is now "Breaking News" at http://www.ajc.com with pictures as well. According to the radio, the Rockdale County Sheriff's office is now reporting a number of respiratory problems.

Conyers is a suburb about 15-20 miles east of downtown. In case anyone is wondering, winds today are expected to be from the southwest, blowing any fumes away from the city, but definitely toward other populated areas.

[GrantDawg]

As I told Skydog in chat, my brother-in-law was security manager of that plant for 15 years, and took all the hazmat classes dealing with the chemicals out there. He said the cloud now hovering over Conyers is going to rain down chemicals that will eat through metal. If anyone gets any residue of this on their car, they need to:

a) Not touch it. It will eat your skin.
b) Wash it off your car, or it will not have paint on it.

[GrantDawg]

Just had a moron from a town 20 miles away on the tv say he just drove through the cloud in Conyers and now he is saying people need to stop driving through the area.

[JonInMiddleGA]

(per all 3 major TV stations) Rockdale Medical Center is now diverting patients to Newton General. RMC spokespersons says they're now in a "holding pattern", shutting down the facility to existing patients only.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Okay, maybe I've just got a twisted sense of humor or something but ... is it really necessary for the TV talking heads to keep repeating that "Bio-Labs employees are being asked not to report to work at this time"?

I'm no brain surgeon, but I believe I probably wouldn't have been planning to do that anyway.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Okay, maybe I've just got a twisted sense of humor or something but ... is it really necessary for the TV talking heads to keep repeating that "Bio-Labs employees are being asked not to report to work at this time"?

I'm no brain surgeon, but I believe I probably wouldn't have been planning to do that anyway.

Sadly, they may not be reporting for a while.

[GrantDawg]

They just said the cloud is now stretched out to South Carolina.

[HornedFrog Purple]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

As I told Skydog in chat, my brother-in-law was security manager of that plant for 15 years, and took all the hazmat classes dealing with the chemicals out there. He said the cloud now hovering over Conyers is going to rain down chemicals that will eat through metal. If anyone gets any residue of this on their car, they need to:

a) Not touch it. It will eat your skin.
b) Wash it off your car, or it will not have paint on it.

I wouldn't wash it off either. If you find an amount on your car or elsewhere, call the fire department. Depending on what it is, irrigating hazmat chemicals into the soil or sewer system can be bad news.

Of course I don't exactly know what the exact chemicals are from the article but it's better to be safe than sorry. I would check with them first.

[GrantDawg]

It is mostly cholorine. Biolab makes pool chemicals.

[HornedFrog Purple]

Ah ok well nevermind then.

Public servant out.

[GrantDawg]

Manditory evacuation of downtown Conyers now. I have to think that comes from the latest EPA readings.

[Buzzbee]

Originally Posted by HornedFrog Purple

I wouldn't wash it off either. If you find an amount on your car or elsewhere, call the fire department. Depending on what it is, irrigating hazmat chemicals into the soil or sewer system can be bad news.

Of course I don't exactly know what the exact chemicals are from the article but it's better to be safe than sorry. I would check with them first.

I used to work for a Chemical manufacturer and the fire department flat out told us that if our warehouse ever caught fire, they would simply let it burn to the ground. With the large mix of chemicals we had, they didn't want to risk the effects that runoff might cause.

[KWhit]

I'm in Sacramento on business, so I'm missing it. But Lisa (my wife) is there and went into work today. She's 7 months pregnant, so I'm trying to talk her into going home, but I have absolutely no control over her.

They haven't evacuated the area around where she works, but I imagine that will be happening soon.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by KWhit

I'm in Sacramento on business, so I'm missing it. But Lisa (my wife) is there and went into work today. She's 7 months pregnant, so I'm trying to talk her into going home, but I have absolutely no control over her.

They haven't evacuated the area around where she works, but I imagine that will be happening soon.

The cloud has moved to the south. It still isn't going far enough south to affect where she works (but of course, your house isn't that far from there either. Might need to get her out of the county).

[KWhit]

She's leaving work now and going to my parents house (2-3 miles further away from the fire). I'd feel much better if I was there and actually knew what was going on.

[GrantDawg]

Massive chemical fire forces evacuations in Rockdale

By MIKE MORRIS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/25/04



Firefighters from three counties Tuesday were battling a massive blaze at a chemical company near Conyers.

Authorities evacuated a one-mile radius around the BioLab Inc. facility on Old Covington Highway near West Avenue and I-20. A mandatory evacuation of downtown Conyers was ordered just before 10 a.m.

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At least nine people were treated for respiratory problems, area hospitals reported. Rockdale Medical Center, about a mile from the explosion site, was sending new patients to other hospitals.

"You could feel the burning. You started feeling like you wanted to cough or throw up," Ruby Knauers, a Conyers resident who was evacuated from her home by police, told the Associated Press.

The fire broke out before 4:30 a.m.

A huge explosion inside the building sent black smoke skyward just before 7 a.m. and a few minutes later, officials shut down I-20 in both directions.

Eastbound traffic was being diverted off the interstate at Turner Hill Road, with westbound traffic being routed off at Sigman Road. The interstate was reopened in both directions at about 7:30 a.m., but was again shut down about three hours later.

DeKalb police Sgt. Pat White said eastbound traffic was being taken off the interstate at Panola Road just before 11 a.m. Westbound traffic was being divertd at Exit 98, Ga. Hwy. 11.

Light winds were blowing the giant plume of gray and black smoke eastward parallel to I-20. By 8:30 a.m., the plume could be seen at Lake Oconee some 45 miles away and was visible from both downtown Atlanta and Lawrenceville.

The Federal Aviation Administration was in the process of restricting airspace surrounding the fire site at 11 a.m., spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said. The airspace restriction would be in place for three nautical miles around and 3,500 feet above the fire, she said.

The fire and smoke plume was having no effect on air traffic in and out of Hartsfield-Jackson International Aiport, Bergen said.

Downtown Conyers was nearly deserted at 10 a.m. as smoke settled down into the Olde Town historic district, turning the sky ashen gray. To the east the smoke got thicker and nearer to the ground.

A police officer parked at the corner of Main and Pine Log roads stepped out of his car holding a pale green medical mask over his face as he talked to a lost motorist. She rolled down her window and covered her face with her hand as she spoke.

Some drivers were out, but businesses and the courthouse were all closed. Just two people walked down the sidewalks.

Nelson James of Cumming was leaving his office on Main Street after his boss called to say there were mandatory evacuations and he should get out of town.

"This is wild and crazy," he said, of the air's smoky chlorine smell. Nelson works for a company that throws picnics and other events for corporations; it once organized an event for Biolab.

"Every time you go by that place, you wonder if that's going to happen," he said. "Just a thought at the back of your mind is, 'If that place ever caught on fire, what would happen?'"

Buzz Weiss, a spokesman for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, said at 10 a.m. that officials planned to let the fire burn itself out. Weiss added that the fire could burn for another 12 hours.

BioLab sells purification chemicals for use in swimming pools, and Shupe said chlorine was burning.

The company ships swimming pool chemicals from its 400,000-square-foot Conyers facility. This is the busiest time of the year for the company as it gears up for this weekend's Memorial Day holiday, the traditional opening of summer pool season.

A statement released by BioLab said "raw materials and finished goods" were stored in the warehouse.

"The smoke from the fire may contain consumed chlorine, which is an irritant and the reason for the request for the public to stay out of the path of the smoke," the statement read.

"The fire has been contained to the building of origin, and we're working hard to keep it that way," deputy Rockdale fire chief Mike Lee said at 9 a.m.

Lee said the smoke plume extends a half-mile high from the point of origin in a storage building at BioLab. He said part of the roof had collapsed.

According to Lee, the fire did not spread to other buildings in the Bio-Lab complex.

Lee did not know of any injuries among employees or to any firefighters.

Monty Eckels, vice president of manufacturing for BioLab, which has been in Rockdale for 31 years, said, "I want to apologize profusely for the disruption caused to the community."

Eckels said smoke smoke was noticed around 4 a.m. in one of the three distribution buildings.

A company emergency response team immediately evacuated the building, he said.

The cause of the fire had not been determined, Eckels said.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency spokesman Carl Terry said that emergency response experts with the agency were setting up toxic air monitors around the plant site to determine what chemicals -- and in what concentrations -- may be coming from the fire.

Kevin Chambers, spokesman for the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, said that more than 250,000 pounds of a chlorine-based compound called calcium hypochlorite is stored at the plant.

Calcium hypochlorite is "an extremely dangerous product that either through criminal acts, misuse or unfortunate combinations of circumstances can endanger both emergency responders and the general public with its potential for creating violent, intense fires and explosions," says the National Association of State Fire Marshals.

The chemical is used to bind chlorine to make it a solid and make it easier to ship and store. Chlorine normally is a gas.

"It's the solid that's burning and giving off chlorine gas," Chambers said.

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, acute exposure to low levels of chlorine results in eye, nose, and throat irritation, sneezing, excessive salivation, general excitement and restlessness.

Higher concentrations causes difficulty in breathing, violent coughing, nausea, vomiting, cyanosis, dizziness, headache, choking, laryngeal edema, acute tracheobronchitis, chemical pneumonia.

Chambers said that EPD officials also are checking on a nearby pond to determine if contaminated runoff from the plant fire is getting into the pond.

He said EPA officials are working with EPA to set up the air monitors on the ground. An airplane equipped with air monitors may be sent up later, he said.

Chambers said that the plume this morning was "like a ball of yarn" and most of the toxic smoke was going high into the air. But as the day warms up, he said, the smoke could spread out and get closer to the ground.

As long as the smoke is high in the air, the ground monitors may not register high concentrations.

The weather forecast for Tuesday called for winds to continue to blow from west to east at around 10 mph., with afternoon temperatures climbing well into the 80s.

At 6 a.m., sheriff's deputies were driving through the area using loudpspeakers to advise residents who had not already left to stay inside their homes, shut their windows and turn off air conditioners.

"We have a one-mile radius blocked off until we can determine exactly what we're dealing with," Shupe said.

Authorities have shut down and blocked access to part of downtown Conyers due to the cloud from the chemical fire, Shupe said.

"The cloud has settled and people have seen particles falling from the cloud," Shupe said. "I'm sure they're from the fire, but we don't know exactly what they are."

Areas evacuated or closed include Main Street and West Avenue, as well as Mill Street in Conyers. "That entire area has been closed to access," Shupe said.

Other areas evacuated included Old Town Conyers and the Milstead area. School buses were being used to evacuate residents.

Evacuation centers were set up at Heritage High School on Granade Road and at J.H. House Elementary School on Loganville Highway.

The Rockdale County courthouse complex was closed for the day. County schools have already closed for the summer. Schools in neighboring Newton County to the east are still in session, however, and a spokesman there said all outdoor activities had been canceled.

Deborah Armstrong, a spokeswoman for Rockdale Hospital, said no one had been treated at the hospital for breathing difficulties or any other problems. She said the hospital is about five miles from the fire, and had not been evacuated.

Surface streets surrounding the facility, including West Avenue headed into downtown Conyers, were also shut down.

Sherry and Charles McDaniel run the M&M Bait and Produce behind a Chevron station at the corner of Sigman and Irwin Bridge roads, both of which were closed off going to the plant. The normally slow-paced intersection became a web of activity as confused commuters tried to figure out other ways to I-20, which is a little more than a mile to the south. Many stopped at the produce stand to ask directions.

"About the time you tell them to go one way, people come back and say, 'Well, they turned me away there,'" Sherry McDaniel said.

Leaning over baskets of tomatoes and grapefruit, the McDaniels stared south at the billowy white smoke about a mile away. In the air was the faintest smell of chlorine, about as strong as the scent from a swimming pool.

The plume seemed to expand and contract with the wind and at times appeared to turn black, the couple said.

DeKalb County firefighters were sent to the scene to assist Rockdale crews in battling the blaze, DeKalb dispatchers said. Newton County fire crews were also assisting.

BioLab is owned by Great Lakes Chemical Corp., based in Indianapolis, Ind.

According to its Web site, Great Lakes is the world's leading producer of specialty chemicals for applications such as water treatment, specialty household cleaners, flame retardants, polymer stabilizers, fire suppression and performance chemicals.

The company produces more than 8,500 products that are marketed in more than 90 countries.

In 2002 Great Lakes had revenues of $1.4 billion and more than 4,600 employees.

The EPA in 1998 fined BioLab $319,000 for alleged violations of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). It was the largest penalty ever imposed under FIFRA by the EPA's regional office in Atlanta.

The EPA cited BioLab for not properly registering two of its swimming pool products. The agency said that the products contained ingredients that could also be classified as pesticides.



Staff writer Bill Montgomery, Charles Seabrook and Duane Stanford contributed to this article.

[GrantDawg]

I am about 15 miles from the fire (and not in the direction of the plume), and you can smell chlorine outside. It is strong enough to burn the back of your throat and make your eyes itch.

[Franklinnoble]

Fire!

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

Fire!

My wife commented on the conversation a friend of mine and I were having on the phone about this by calling us Bevis and Butthead.

They have closed I-20 again, and now have all trafic diverted to about three miles from my house (it is a huge round about circuit they are forcing people to travel). I have no shot of getting out of the house now.

[GrantDawg]

Hey Jon, they have traffic coming straight for you. They want everyone to go into Monticello and then around back to the Interstate. The good news, gas stations out your way is going to see more gas customers than they see in a regular month.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Hmm ... more customers ... under duress ... wonder how long it'll take the gas prices to bump up a dime or so?

[GrantDawg]

Holy cow! My in-laws that live a good ten miles from the site have been told tonight that they must evacuate. This story has died down, but if they are starting to evacuate people from the far end of the county, it must be getting worse.

[SFL Cat]

Any updates?

[GrantDawg]

People are trickling home. It will be late this evening before they all get back. I-20 is still open, but could close again at any moment. Fire is still burning, but contained and under control.

My inlaws were diverted well away from town last night, but still drove through a smoke cloud a good 10-15 miles from the site.

[JonInMiddleGA]

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/met...27biofire.html

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/27/04
Investigators expect to begin picking through soggy debris and evaluating burn patterns today at the wreckage of a Conyers chemical warehouse, trying to determine what caused a fire that did millions of dollars in damage and forced thousands of people from their homes and businesses.

Late Wednesday, Rockdale County Sheriff Jeff Wigington declared the massive emergency at the BioLab Inc. warehouse "all but over" as firefighters doused hot spots and began rolling up their hoses.


Few details were available on how the fire started and what BioLab workers may have done to contain it.

Firefighters had not entered the building because of almost a foot of standing water. Cleanup crews were pumping the contaminated water into tanker trucks.

Officials allowed Conyers residents to return to their homes Wednesday afternoon, about 36 hours after the fire started at BioLab, which packages chlorine for swimming pools and handles an assortment of chemicals.

A few roads around the smoldering warehouse remained closed.

Wigington, who directed the emergency response, said officials had not begun to assess the cost to local government and businesses, many forced to close because of the noxious smoke that poured out of the burning plant.

At least 570 people spent Tuesday night at two shelters set up at Rockdale County schools.

Georgia Fire and Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine said he expects BioLab will have to pay Rockdale County about $100,000 for emergency services. The charge is "not unusual" for a fire of this type and magnitude, he said.