BioLab fire continued to burn days after officials reported it had been put out, according to source

As a smoke plume continues to rise from the BioLab facility in Conyers, Georgia, following an explosion of chlorine and other chemicals on Sunday, there are new questions about whether the fire was extinguished that day, as officials have stated.

A source with knowledge of discussions among senior officials reported that by last night, the fire had not yet been extinguished, contrary to what officials have previously stated.

At press conferences on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, Rockdale County officials said the BioLab fire was out. “We’ve been battling the fire, and we now have it out,” Rockdale Fire Rescue Chief Marian McDaniel told reporters Sunday. 

McDaniel refuted reports that the fire had not been put out during a press conference on Monday. “There has not been an active fire at that site since yesterday when it was contained at four o’clock,” she said.

Rockdale County Chairman Oz Nesbitt was less emphatic but still said the fire had been controlled. During a press conference Tuesday, a reporter asked officials whether the fire was out. Nesbitt said, “You will continue to see that plume. Don’t think that the situation is not under control or being mitigated. It is being mitigated.”

Mitigated or not, the site continues to emit a significant plume, affecting the surrounding Metro Atlanta area. A haze was visible Thursday afternoon, stretching from the BioLab site into Atlanta along the Interstate 20 corridor. 

The source who spoke to the Atlanta Community Press Collective on condition of anonymity, said officials were allowing the fire to burn because extinguishing it with water may create another plume and sow further public concern.

The main chemical stored at BioLab, Trichloroisocyanuric Acid, “reacts slowly with water to release toxic Chlorine gas, Cyanuric acid, and highly reactive Nitrogen Trichloride,” according to a New Jersey Department of Health Hazardous Substance Fact Sheet.

Rockdale County officials did not hold a press conference Wednesday. Instead, the County’s website began directing visitors to a Georgia Emergency Management Agency/Homeland Security press release. The release, posted Wednesday, warned, “Tonight, the smoke will drift towards metro Atlanta and settle close to the ground, which is common at night. With light winds, smog or haze could settle over the city in the morning, which could smell like chlorine.”