Some residents east of Atlanta were evacuated while others were told to shelter in place Sunday to avoid contaminants from a chemical plant fire that sent a massive plume of dark smoke high into the sky that could be seen from miles away.
Interstate 20 was shut down in both directions in the area, the Georgia Department of Transportation said in a post on X. Reports said traffic was snarled as vehicles backed up in the area after the closure.
The fire ignited when a sprinkler head malfunctioned around 5 a.m. Sunday at the BioLab plant in Conyers, Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel told reporters. The malfunction caused water to mix with a water-reactive chemical, producing a plume of chemicals.
TIL that the US Chemical Safety Board has a utube channel with chem accident/disaster episodes.
It punches way above its weight, too. 340k subscribers for a channel that posts 2-3 times a year with workplace safety videos. They do a good job explaining technical issues to the layman, though, and put effort into their animations.