CONYERS, Ga. — Schools and businesses still feel the impact of the chemical plume spreading from a Biolab facility fire in Conyers, with the cleanup timeline still unknown.
Decatur schools announced they will move activities indoors as a precaution. Rockdale County schools plan to hold remote learning days next Monday through Wednesday due to concerns as students return from fall break. District officials say they have not been given a timeline for the cleanup.
The fire was put out Sunday, but a reaction triggered by sprinkler system water pouring onto pool shock chlorination product at the BioLab facility in Conyers has continued to produce the plume.
The Atlanta-Fulton County Emergency Management Agency and Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) said wind shifts will push the chlorine smell and haze westward, possibly lingering through the weekend. 11Alive Meteorologist Melissa Nord has a wind forest for the day here.
Officials say at this time that "chlorine levels in the air are at safe levels and there are no active advisories in place." They note that "chlorine has a very low odor threshold, meaning that it can be smelled before it reaches a harmful level."
A Georgia Poison Center hotline has been set up at 404-856-6252 for anyone wishing to report symptoms such as nose, throat or eye irritation or difficulty breathing.
Here is some other critical information:
- What we learned on Conyers plume from Tuesday morning news conference | Pool shock product is gassing off into the air: What that means
- Georgia Tech chemistry professor breaks down chemicals in the air over Conyers BioLab plant
- Rockdale chemical plume | Possible symptoms from exposure
- Hotlines: For non-emergency situations, people are asked not to call 911. They are directed to the county EMA hotline at 770-278-8300 or the Rockdale County Sheriff's Office non-emergency line at 770-278-8200.
11Alive will provide additional updates throughout the day on the situation.
Latest chemical plume updates | Friday, Oct. 4
6:20 a.m. | The daily monitoring table published by the EPA for yesterday from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. says levels chlorine levels exceeded the "action level" in the morning at their Smyrna Road station. Smyrna Road is just south of I-20 and the BioLab site.
From the report (note, when reading these numbers, that the "action level" is considered 0.50 ppm across a 1 hour average):
"From 5:00am to 11:00am several rises and falls of Cl2 were measured with peaks of 3.68ppm, 1.87ppm, 2.09ppm, and 2.22ppm. The hourly average concentration from 6:00am to 7:00am was 0.98ppm and the hourly average concentration from 7:00am to 8:00am was 1.07ppm. Remaining hourly average concentrations did not exceed 0.43ppm."
6 a.m. | Here is the latest on our coverage.
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Thursday, Oct. 3
9:38 p.m. | City Schools of Decatur posted on Instagram that as a precaution, students will remain indoors during the school day on Friday. Also, windows will be closed for bus riders during pickup and dropoff.
6:48 p.m. | 11Alive's Molly Oak explains how frustration is growing for residents as the plume lingers in Rockdale County.
5:20 p.m. | The Georgia Department of Agriculture released the following statement on the chemical plume in Conyers:
We are monitoring the ongoing chemical event in Rockdale County and its impact on the surrounding area in close coordination with local officials, GEMA/HS, EPA, DPH, and other state and federal partners. Impacted Georgians can submit agriculture-related questions and any reports of animal mortality directly to us at chemicalevent@agr.georgia.gov. This is an evolving situation, and we will provide updated recommendations/guidance
as soon as we receive more information.