Getty Image / Peter Zay/Anadolu
The greater Atlanta region could not catch a break this weekend after days of rain prior to Hurricane Helene passing by dumped an inordinate amount of rain on the region clogging up roads and downing power lines. Then on Sunday, the BioLab fire in Rockdale County on the outskirts of Atlanta thoroughly freaked out everyone and prompted evacuations.
An investigation is underway after the BioLab chemical facility in Conyers, Georgia went up in flames in the Southeast suburbs of Atlanta. Videos quickly hit social media showing a fire of unimaginable scale and the videos were being posted before there was official guidance from first responders which led to a lot of confusion.
Atlanta’s 11 Alive news spoke with Conyers residents who were evacuated. There were 17,000 locals evacuated. Some said they could smell the burning chlorine in the air and their eyes were burning from whatever chemicals were in the air.
One local posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that they were asked to shelter in place with their doors closed, windows closed, and AC units turned off in order to mitigate any exposure to potentially harmful chemicals. The massive plumes of smoke from the BioLab fire can be seen in the distance:
This if from the fire at BioLab in Conyers GA. They have us sheltering in place with our doors, windows closed and air conditioning units turned off. We need more information about what kind of chemicals we are being exposed too. @wsbtv pic.twitter.com/KKC8ia6CZe
— Imtroby (@imtroby) September 29, 2024
It doesn’t require an advanced degree to recognize the coloration of that smoke wafting out of the BioLab fire is not normal. Those colors are a reaction to the burning chemicals though it was at the time unclear which chemicals were being ignited:
The videos from the biochem lab explosion in Conyers yesterday are pretty crazy. pic.twitter.com/sIPfrnKWog
— Everything Georgia (@GAFollowers) September 30, 2024
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the colorful smoke is expected to linger for days even though the fire itself has been put out. At this point the colored smoke plumes are being caused by chemical reactions and not flames.
I-20 is closed in the area and a ‘shelter in place’ order is still in effect which has also closed businesses in the region. It’s expected this will continue until the ‘shelter in place’ order is lifted which is directly tied to chlorine being detected in the air.
Footage of the flames is unlike anything that’s ever been seen in the Atlanta region:
I was trapped in Atlanta for 24 hours from Thursday to Friday after 3 flight cancellations while trying to get back to my family in Florida with Hurricane Helene disrupting everything. So I was able to see first-hand how stressed out everyone in the region was due to the storm which hit after days of rain. This this BioLab Fire was like throwing gasoline on the flames of people’s stress.