CONYERS, Ga. — Days after the BioLab fire, those who live by the facility refuse to go home.
Despite Rockdale County's shelter-in-place being in effect from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. through Friday, many residents say the smell of chlorine and the smoke are too strong to handle.
"It freaks me out because I have a heart condition," Galia Kelley said.
The 25-year-old and her family have been evacuated from their home since Sunday, when the fire started. After smelling the smoke, she had to go to the hospital for treatment more than once.
"We know it happened because this sky was black! I was like, where is the? The sun is supposed to be out. I think they need to close it quick," Michelle Kelley, Galia's mom, said.
It's still hard to believe it's real. A plume of chemicals released into the air from BioLab has taken over the conversation, especially with Galia's symptoms.
"Right now I'm struggling to breathe and my chest is hurting because of what happened in the explosion," Galia said.
First, she went to the urgent care and got treatment. She then got sick again and ended up at Piedmont Eastside Medical Center in Snellville by her mom's home.
"They said that I was the 80th person from Conyers to come and see them, so they've been getting a lot of patients from Conyers coming this way to get checked out and it's terrible," Galia said.
She and her husband evacuated to her mom's house to get their 2-year-old son away from the smoke. A day later, they were told the evacuation was lifted.
"We thought we can go back home! We had an alert that said it was safe," Galia said.
But it wasn't. Smelling the smoke again made Galia and her husband, who has asthma's symptoms worse.
"This is dangerous! especially for her because she never had breathing problems before and now she had to go buy an inhaler and a machine? No! This is unacceptable," Michelle said.
Machines reading the air quality by BioLab are 20 minutes away. Overnight, officials say there were 'some exceedances above the action level for chlorine' as the product's neutralization process at the site continues.
"This is unsafe and this is not right! they need to close down that lab and they need to do it quick fast and in a hurry. You wouldn't want your family going through this. you sitting there looking at these families on tv. guess what, it wasn't your family! It's mine," Michelle said.
11Alive is contacting hospitals in the area to determine how many people have been treated since the fire started on Sunday.
If you feel symptoms after coming in contact with the smoke, the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency recommends that you call your health provider and the Georgia Poison Center at 404-856-6252.
GEMA says the best ways to protect yourself are to limit your time outside, keep indoor air as clean as possible and wear a respirator mask if you have to be in it.