What you need to know:
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About 17,000 people have been evacuated around Biolab facility.
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I-20 has been shut down between Salem Road and Turner Hill Road.
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Newton County Schools will be closed on Monday because of a chemical fire.
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Rockdale Schools are off this week, 12-month employees will work remotely.
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Smoke could be visible for several days.
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EPA and the EPD are both on scene assessing the situation.
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Fire started around 5:30 a.m. Sunday.
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The sprinkler system reacted with a chemical inside the factory.
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Roof has collapsed on building along with several walls.
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Piedmont Rockdale has moved some patients, others to shelter-in-place.
What happened:
All Rockdale County residents have been ordered to shelter in place after a chemical fire broke out at the Biolab facility on Old Covington Highway.
It all started around 5:30 a.m. Sunday when a sprinkler system malfunctioned, which seems to have mixed with a chemical creating a plume. You can see the smoke billowing miles into the sky, changing colors throughout the day from black, white, red and now to a yellowish hue seen by Channel 2′s Michael Doudna on Sunday evening.
Crews got the fire under control on Sunday morning, but it reignited around 12:15 p.m.
Officials say the fire has since been put out, but the building itself has collapsed.
“The roof is collapsed in totally as well as several of the walls, which is why we have been trying to assemble it all together and move it away to make a better path to move out the product,” Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel said.
Officials are stressing that people should take this seriously.
“As the plume starts out, it could become very dangerous, and toxic. So, until we get those readings from EPA and EPD, we don’t know what those plumes consist of, so we want to keep everyone safe and away from it as much as possible,” Rockdale County Emergency Management Director Sharon Webb said.
Evacuations and closures:
About 17,000 people have been ordered to evacuate their homes while the rest of the people living in Rockdale County have been ordered to shelter in place until at least midnight.
The sheriff’s office set up several evacuation sites: JP Carr Gym at 90 Hardin St SW, Scout Camp at 218 Scout Road in Covington and Wolverine Gym at 8134 Geiger Street in Covington.
The Rockdale County District Attorney says that her office and the Rockdale County Courthouse will be closed on Monday because of the fire.
Roads closed include:
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Rockdale Industrial
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Old Covington to Sigman Rd.
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Covington to 2nd St.
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Lester Rd. to Sigman Rd.
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Farmer Rd. from Sigman Rd. to Rockdale Industrial
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Rockbridge from Sigman Rd. to Main St.
Some patients at Piedmont Rockdale Hospital have been moved.
“They have started moving patients to other facilities for precautionary measures as well. They are not closed, they are just taking precautions to move patients to protection. And they are on diversion for anyone that happens to have an emergency or medical emergency. We encourage you to go to a surrounding hospital in another county,” Rockdale County EMA Director Sharon Webb said.
Reaction from Biolab:
Biolab released a statement that read:
“We are actively responding to an occurrence at our facility in Conyers, Georgia. Our employees are accounted for with no injuries reported. 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.”
Past incidents:
They are unfortunately familiar with issues at this plant. Channel 2 Action News has found at least two previous incidents that have caused evacuations and/or road closures from the plant in the past 20 years.
In a 2020 incident at the same location, the problem was a chemical that is often used to create swimming pool cleaning products that can create fumes when exposed to water.
We are working to see if it is the same issue this time.
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