After a fire at one of its facilities led to citywide evacuations and weeks-long shelter-in-place orders, chemical manufacturer BioLab now faces several lawsuits and moves by the county to shut the plant down.
On Sept. 29, a chemical fire broke out early in the morning on the roof of the manufacturer’s facility in Conyers, Ga. A sprinkler then activated, causing explosive chemical reactions, according to court documents. The fire seemed to have subsided but then reignited a few hours later. Because the flames involved water-reactive chemicals, traditional firefighting methods could not extinguish it.
Clouds of smoke led to evacuations of the whole city, the documents went on to say. County-wide, residents were told to shelter in place, close windows and shut off their air conditioners and ventilation systems.
Nearly two months after the incident, local residents still report symptoms such as blurry vision, shortness of breath, throat irritation and chronic headaches. More than a dozen lawsuits by businesses and residents had been reportedly filed by late October. This included class-action lawsuits, with a consumer website created for at least one of them to instruct residents on such things as cleanup and evidence recovery.
“Defendants’ recklessness has upended the lives of nearly 100,000 Georgians, who must now fear for their health and the habitability of their neighborhoods,” stated the court filing of one class-action lawsuit. “Defendants’ recklessness has caused numerous similar explosions before — including several at the very Conyers facility that just exploded. Yet no level of catastrophe has prompted them to act more responsibly.”
The county also is taking to the courts in hopes of driving the company out, with one official telling the press she “will fight until my last breath to have them removed.”
“We want them gone,” Rockdale County Commissioner Sherri Washington added at a press conference.
This fire occurred four years after another in St. Charles, La., linked to Hurricane Laura hobbled the company’s production of trichlor products.
BioLab did not respond to requests for comment.
