STORY: ::September 29, 2024

::Blaze at Georgia chemical plant reignited

after being contained, says fire chief

::Conyers, Georgia

Marian McDaniel/Fire Chief/Rockdale County

“The fire was contained and then the water supply secured. During the time they were offloading the product from the building, the fire reignited around 12 noon. For the past two or 3 hours, it’s been battling that fire to where we now have it out. Once again, the water is secure and we’re waiting to clean up some of debris so we can commence back to moving the product out of the building.”

Sharon Webb/ Director /Emergency Management/Rockdale County

“We did put a mandatory evacuation zone that extends to Sigmond to Lake View, our former road, as well as Urban Bridge to Georgia 20 and Georgia 20 Back to Sigmund Road. We have I-20 is shut down from turn Hill all the way to Salem Road for the time being. Anyone out of this zone or the north side? We do recommend shelter in place until the plume clears.”

“During the time they were offloading the product from the building, the fire reignited around 12 noon. For the past two or 3 hours, it’s been battling that fire to where we now have it out. Once again, the water is secure and we’re waiting to clean up some of debris so we can commence back to moving the product out of the building,” said McDaniel.

The incident began around 5:30 a.m. (0930 GMT) when a sprinkler system malfunctioned, reacting with chemicals inside the factory and creating a massive plume of smoke visible from miles away.

The fire resulted in a shelter-in-place order for all Rockdale County residents. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) are currently on-site assessing potential hazards, as officials warn of possible toxic exposure from the smoke.

Georgia officials are asking some residents to evacuate after a fire at a chemical plant started spreading toxic smoke on Sunday.

The fire began at the BioLab plant in Conyers – which is located around 32 miles southeast of Atlanta – at 5 a.m. on Sunday, FOX 5 Atlanta reported. BioLab is a company that produces pool chemicals, according to its website.

BioLab told Fox News Digital that they are “actively responding” to the incident.

“Our employees are accounted for with no injuries reported,” a spokesperson said. “Our team is on the scene, working with first responders and local authorities to assess and contain the situation. As always, the safety of our community remains our top priority.”

By the afternoon, the smoke clouds were emanating from the facility and huge billows of multicolored clouds still polluted the air.

During a press conference on Sunday morning, Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel said that a sprinkler head at the facility malfunctioned and “caus[ed] a mixture with a water reactive chemical.”

Social media video of the fire shows gigantic clouds of smoke visible from I-20, which had been blocked off between Salem Road and Turner Hill on Sunday afternoon.

Authorities say that those who live south of I-20 are safe, but those who live north of I-20 or between I-20 and Sigman Road are asked to evacuate.

“Please evacuate the area if you are inside this zone,” Rockdale County officials said in a Facebook post. “I-20 will be blocked off in both directions between Salem Rd and Turner Hill.”

During a Sunday press conference, Rockdale County Sheriff Eric Levett told residents that “this is not the time to do any type of sightseeing.”

“We are strongly encouraging everyone, no matter where you’re coming from, but especially Rockdale residents, to stay out of this area for the safety of yourself, and for the safety of all personnel that are out here already that have to work this type of incident,” the official advised.

The Rockdale County Animal Services asked residents within the evacuation area to bring their animals along with them.

“Please, if you’re in the evacuation area, take your pets with you. Please do not leave them behind,” the organization said. “We are loaded and getting the 50+ shelter animals out of the area and to safety.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office for additional information.

Fox News Digital’s Kyle Schmidbauer contributed to this report.

Georgia Tech was off last weekend, but they are going to be back at it next Saturday at home vs an undefeated Duke team. The Blue Devils fell behind early vs North Carolina on Saturday, but Manny Diaz found a way to get his team a victory over their arch-rivals and Duke reached 5-0. According to Fanduel Sportsbook, Georgia Tech is going to open as a 7.5-point favorite vs the Blue Devils and the total has been set at 55.5.

The game will kick off at 8:00 p.m. and will be on the ACC Network. This will be the second time that Georgia Tech has gotten the prime-time kickoff on the ACC Network this season (Georgia State in week one).

The primetime selection is Georgia Tech’s fifth in its last six home games, and the fourth time in that span that it will be featured in the ACC Network’s top-tier 8 p.m. timeslot.

In addition to hosting the primetime game broadcast, Tech will also welcome ACC Network’s ACC PM and The Huddle to its campus for live programming throughout the weekend. ACCN’s set will once again be located on Tech Tower Lawn as part of Georgia Tech’s Helluva Block Party. The Yellow Jackets have been 5-0 since the beginning of last season when The Huddle airs live from the location of a Georgia Tech game.

While the two teams did not face off last year, they are plenty familiar with each other. Georgia Tech leads the all-time series 54-35 and the Yellow Jackets have won the last three meetings, including the last two in Atlanta. The last time that Duke beat Georgia Tech in Atlanta was 2018. Brent Key did get a win vs Duke while he was the interim coach in 2022.

Under Brent Key, Georgia Tech has been good about bouncing back from a loss and they have had two weeks to digest the loss to Louisville. Duke is going to want to keep their undefeated season alive next Saturday night and it will be up to Georgia Tech to put the previous loss behind them and take down the Blue Devils.