BioLab, in Conyers, Georgia caught fire in September. Now a cloud of noxious chemicals and lawsuits is descending.
Two weeks ago, a facility owned by BioLab in Conyers, Georgia outside of Atlanta blew up, sending a huge and rancid cloud for miles around. It seems that the water used to extinguish the fire reacted with pool chemicals in the plant, which made the cloud more noxious. It's always something. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Chemicals released from the Conyers fire include chlorine, chloramine and chlorine compounds, according to the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency. Additionally, bromine — another chemical used in spa and pool treatments as an alternative to chlorine and has a bleach-like odor — was also detected, though at lower levels. Specifically, Georgia Tech professor Sally Ng said a system known as the Atmospheric Science and Chemistry Measurement Network detected a 1,400-times increase in the amount of chlorine-containing particles in the air, and a 170-times increase in the amount of bromine-containing particles in the air over Decatur on Monday morning. Typically, there is little of either element in the air, Ng said. Bromine exposure also can be toxic, the symptoms of which are similar to chlorine exposure. (And as a strange sidebar to the situation, Kenny Johnson, the Rockdale County Soil and Water Conservation District supervisor, collapsed and died in the Georgia state capitol immediately after testifying to a legislative committee hearing into the fire.) The fire closed Interstate 20. Some 10,000 people were evacuated from the area, and 90.000 were placed under a shelter-in-place order that was lifted only two weeks ago. And now, of course, a larger cloud of lawsuits is descending on the area. Also from the AJC: At least…