Shelter-in-place advisory extended in Conyers, Georgia, after chlorine detected in air

A shelter-in-place advisory was extended for a Georgia county Monday after chlorine was detected in the air — a result of a fire at a chemical lab that started Sunday.

The chemical fire ignited on the roof of the BioLab plant in Conyers, in Rockdale County, at 5 a.m. Sunday. A sprinkler head malfunctioned, “causing a mixture with a water-reactive chemical,” Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel said.

The fire has been put out.

The resulting release of chemical gas prompted a shelter-in-place recommendation for the entire county, population 93,570, through midnight, as well as mandatory evacuation orders for residents near the plant.

Rockdale County extended the shelter-in-place recommendation for residents in an update early Monday.

Officials did not confirm what chemical was involved. The BioLab facility is run by Operator KIK Consumer Products, which produces Clorox-branded pool-cleaning products made with chlorine.

Gary Hoyle, a professor emeritus of environmental and occupational health sciences at the University of Louisville, said chlorine is not water-reactive, so a different chemical most likely contributed to the fire.

Nonetheless, the county said Monday that air quality surveys conducted by the Environmental Protection Division and the Environmental Protection Agency detected chlorine in the air coming from the lab.

“For everyone sheltering in place, the best practice is to turn the air conditioning off and keep windows and doors shut,” the county said in a news release.

The county also announced that all government facilities would be closed Monday and advised businesses to cease operations until the shelter-in-place order is lifted. The county did not clarify when that will happen.

Georgia’s Emergency Management Agency sent out an alert Monday afternoon telling residents that the EPA was monitoring air quality for “chlorine and related compounds” and that “chemical levels are unlikely to cause harm to most people.”

For healthy people, inhaling low levels of chlorine from the air can lead to watery eyes and coughing. Those with respiratory issues may be more susceptible to chest pain or trouble breathing.

Hoyle said a useful rule of thumb is that if the air smells like bleach or a swimming pool, that is a sign chlorine is present and may indicate an exposure level that poses a risk.

“If you can’t smell it, probably there’s very little chance of having a health effect,” he said.

High levels of exposure to chlorine can require hospitalization or be deadly, he added. Such levels usually prompt evacuations.

KIK Consumer Products said no employee injuries were reported as a result of the fire. It’s not yet clear whether any residents were injured.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. McDaniel, the fire chief, said Sunday that the sprinkler system, and then firefighters, may have aggravated the chemical reaction by adding more water to it.

“We’ve been firefighting with water,” McDaniel said in the update, “but the water is also aggravating the chemical.”

Asked whether Hurricane Helene and its aftermath may have helped spark the fire and the chemical reaction, McDaniel said it was too early to tell.

Interstate 20, which was closed after the incident, has been reopened, the county said. But multiple roads in the area were still closed Monday morning.

Hoyle said it’s unclear, based on the information released so far, how many people in the area might have been exposed to chlorine.