‘We want them gone’: Georgia county plans to sue BioLab after its chemical plant fire upended life for thousands of residents

By Holly Yan, CNN

(CNN) — After a pre-dawn inferno engulfed a BioLab industrial building, it shrouded neighborhoods in chemical smoke for days. Thousands of Georgia residents had to evacuate. Children couldn’t go to school for weeks. And authorities urged residents to stay home every night as communities wondered how dangerous the disaster might be.

Now, Rockdale County is trying to oust BioLab from its site in Conyers, about 25 miles east of Atlanta, saying it doesn’t want to risk another potential environmental calamity from the company that produces pool and spa water sanitization products.

“We can no longer stand by and allow a corporation to continuously affect our current and future physical health, our mental health and our overall quality of life,” Rockdale County Commissioner Sherri Washington said Monday.

Rockdale County officials plan to file a federal lawsuit this week seeking compensation for the county and impacted residents, attorney Shayna Sacks said. They will also try to have BioLab “permanently shut down in Rockdale County,” Washington said.

Details of the lawsuit were still being finalized, and the complaint will be filed “later this week,” Sacks said Monday. “Our primary focus will be BioLab and their parent company, KIK Consumer Products, and holding them accountable for any negligence or misconduct that we uncover.”

In response to the expected lawsuit, BioLab noted the company’s efforts to try to rectify the situation and its desire to “work constructively” with Rockdale County.

“We have not seen the complaint yet and so it would be inappropriate for us to comment, other than to say that we would prefer to work constructively with the County,” a representative for BioLab said in an email to CNN Tuesday.

“We would also note that BioLab worked collaboratively with the County and other parties as part of the Unified Command to successfully complete the emergency response operations at our Conyers facility, while at all times prioritizing public health and safety,” the representative said.

“We also worked diligently alongside the County to quickly stand up support resources for community members – including a process to be reimbursed for expenses related to the incident – and we remain fully committed to making things right for impacted area residents and business owners.”

Why plumes of chemicals traveled for miles

Around 5 a.m. September 29, a malfunctioning sprinkler at the BioLab plant spewed water and “came in contact with a water-reactive chemical and produced a plume,” county officials said.

Firefighters were able to contain the blaze – but it reignited hours later, Rockdale County Sheriff Eric Levett said.

The fire was eventually extinguished around 4 p.m., Rockdale County Fire and Rescue Chief Marian McDaniel said. But the building’s roof later collapsed.

Parent company KIK Consumer Products said no injuries were reported at the plant. But 17,000 residents had to evacuate due to potentially harmful chlorine lingering in the air.

The next day, even with the blaze snuffed out, a chemical haze enveloped communities more than a dozen of miles away. A shelter-in-place advisory was issued for 90,000 people in Rockdale County.

The fire chief warned about “off-gassing” – when a material releases gas into the air.

“There is nothing that we can do or will be done to make this product any worse than it already is,” McDaniel said. “It is off-gassing, but once we can get it removed from the building, from the water source, in a secure area, then we will see a better diminishing of the clouds and smoke.”

For days, shifting winds swept the chemical haze back and forth in multiple cities, including parts of Atlanta.

The chemicals that spewed into the air

Air quality tests by state and federal agencies “revealed the harmful irritant chlorine” emitting from the facility, Rockdale County officials said the day after the explosion.

Exposure to chlorine can cause burning of the eyes, nose and mouth, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. It can also lead to coughing, choking, nausea, vomiting, headache and dizziness.

But after 24 hours of monitoring, Environmental Protection Agency readings showed average levels.

The EPA also detected chloramine and chlorine compounds in the air, Rockdale County said.

“Smoke that contains chlorine compounds can cause various symptoms including irritation of the eyes and airways, coughing, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, chest tightness, a scratchy throat, irritated sinuses, headaches, stinging eyes, or a runny nose,” the county warned.

“People with heart disease might experience chest pain, palpitations, shortness of breath, or fatigue. People with lung disease may not be able to breathe as deeply or as vigorously as usual, and they may experience symptoms such as coughing, phlegm, chest discomfort, wheezing, and shortness of breath.”

As for the water, “Rockdale County’s drinking water remains safe,” officials said. “Water samples are being tested three times daily, and all results have returned safe levels.”

The county said streams downstream from the BioLab facility don’t feed into the area’s drinking water source.

BioLab said it has taken numerous steps to help residents and mitigate the impact of the ordeal, such as launching a 24/7 call center to help with claims and reimbursement requests; opening an in-person community assistance center and appointing a community liasion; and setting up a debris collection service “that has completed more than a hundred debris removal requests on private properties.”

Children return to school after 3 weeks

Students at Rockdale County Public Schools finally returned to classrooms this week, three weeks after the chemical fire prompted the district’s 15,000 students to switch to virtual learning.

“In the interest of prioritizing the safety and well-being of our students and staff, it was prudent to activate our independent and virtual learning protocol while we continuously monitored the environmental impact of the BioLab incident and cleanup efforts in consultation with local officials,” Superintendent Terry Oatts said in a Thursday statement announcing this week’s reopening of schools.

The announcement came the same day Rockdale County lifted its nightly shelter-in-place advisory.

“We have been informed that progress has been made in the cleanup of the BioLab site. Officials have reported no visible plumes and no significant spikes in the readings for the past 72 hours,” Oatts said Thursday. “We will continue to monitor the ongoing BioLab cleanup and will adjust outdoor activities, bus routes, and other operations as may be warranted.”

CNN’s Cindy Von Quednow, Lauren Mascarenhas and Brenda Goodman contributed to this report.

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