Some residents east of Atlanta were evacuated while others were told to shelter in place Sunday to avoid contaminants from a chemical plant fire that sent a massive plume of dark smoke high into the sky that could be seen from miles away.
Interstate 20 was shut down in both directions in the area, the Georgia Department of Transportation said in a post on X. Reports said traffic was snarled as vehicles backed up in the area after the closure.
The fire ignited when a sprinkler head malfunctioned around 5 a.m. Sunday at the BioLab plant in Conyers, Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel told reporters. The malfunction caused water to mix with a water-reactive chemical, producing a plume of chemicals.
The fire ignited when a sprinkler head malfunctioned around 5 a.m. Sunday at the BioLab plant in Conyers, Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel told reporters. The malfunction caused water to mix with a water-reactive chemical, producing a plume of chemicals.
It seems like a pretty fucking big oversight to put a water based fire suppression system in a building that stores water-reactive chemicals.
I’m just some random person on the internet, but shouldn’t their fire system be non-water based if they’re working with water reactive chemicals. This plus the sprinkler failing makes me think this was totally preventable and likely due to negligence, probably to save money if I had to guess.
This is America. We don’t regulate these things. Especially not in red states.
The fire ignited when a sprinkler head malfunctioned
I’m pretty close to the plant. I’m new to the area and I don’t really know anyone. I didn’t get any emergency alerts and they didn’t use the sirens. Is this normal? I found out by accident on the Nextdoor app this morning. I didn’t hear any official statements until 9:30PM! It’s been going since 5AM!
Are you signed up for alerts? https://www.atlantaga.gov/government/mayor-s-office/executive-offices/office-of-emergency-preparedness/be-ready
Looking forward to the USCSB video on this one.
Right? Immediately made me think of the Arkema chemical plant in Texas episode
TIL that the US Chemical Safety Board has a utube channel with chem accident/disaster episodes.
It punches way above its weight, too. 340k subscribers for a channel that posts 2-3 times a year with workplace safety videos. They do a good job explaining technical issues to the layman, though, and put effort into their animations.
