A fire at a Georgia chemical plant is forcing evacuations and road closures

[groundloop]

Source: CNN

A fire at a Georgia chemical plant apparently caused by a sprinkler head malfunction Sunday morning is forcing evacuations and road closures in the area, according to Rockdale County officials.

The incident unfolded around 5 a.m. ET at BioLab in Conyers, Georgia. Water from the malfunctioned sprinkler head “came in contact with a water reactive chemical and produced a plume,” county officials explained on their website.

A fire broke out on the roof and firefighters were able to contain the blaze, but the fire reignited hours later, Rockdale County Sheriff Eric Levett said in a video message posted on Facebook.

[....]

Roads are closed in the area, and residents between Sigman Road and Interstate 20 were asked to evacuate. Additionally, the interstate is blocked in both directions between Salem Road and Turner Hill. The sheriff said he will ask for assistance from the Georgia Department of Public Safety and the Georgia State Patrol.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/29/us/rockdale-county-biolab-fire-georgia/index.html

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Geez..... they have a sprinkler system in an area where "water reactive" chemicals are stored. DUH!!!!!!!

That same facility had a bad fire in 2020.

[jimfields33]

1. We need to see if we really need these types of places.

We can’t keep destroying the atmosphere which this certainly does. I think we need a lot of reevaluation on everything.

[marybourg]

5. I guess we can send all our chemical plants to China,

Who will eventually use them to subvert us. We don’t need no filthy chemicals! We can make everything out of . . . trees. . .and pig hooves. . . and garbanzo beans!

[jimfields33]

6. We can excuse everything. But one day, we will be screwed.

[marybourg]

7. Especially if we're trying to feed, clothe and house 340,000,000

people with trees, pig feet and garbanzo beans. Which are all, of course composed of chemicals. Which would need to be processed in an industrial scale factory in order to produce food, clothing and shelter.

Yes the chemical plant should be cited and penalized - severely - but to posit that we don’t need industrial level factories is, well, . . . I leave it to you to fill in the blanks. I don’t feel rude enough just this minute.

[coprolite]

2. Sounds like an intensive examination

of their safety and training program is necessary, including reading manifests and hazardous material placards and what those little colored diamonds mean.

[snowybirdie]

3. Oh lord!

My grand son's ex-wife and kids are near. Thanks for the news!

[Stardust Mirror]

4. private profits, public costs

any day ending in "y"

[C Moon]

8. The one in 2004 was also regarding sprinklers. Apparently, Biolab was using employees...

to inspect sprinkler systems, instead of state-licensed inspectors. Not sure if it was the companies fault, or the county.
But I wonder if they reverted back to this after a couple of decades.

[Pinback]

9. 17,000 people asked to evacuate

Pretty huge deal. Hopefully the company will be held accountable.

[jmowreader]

10. Question: Why in the hell do they even have any "water reactive chemicals"?

https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/conyers-georgia-chemical-fire-biolab/85-3d10f3b4-b44e-483d-88e3-36b3650309c5

I looked it up. This company is huge in the pool-chemical and spa-chemical industries. Their brands include BioGuard and SpaGuard, so if you have a swimming pool you may be one of their customers. Everything they sell is designed to be put in water, so to think that putting water on pool chemicals would cause this is a bit strange.

[groundloop]

11. Most likely the chemical which caused this isn't the final product which is sold to consumers ....

but rather is used in making the pool chemicals.

[Old Crank]

12. Fire sprinkler heads are binary.

Off or on. Normally the glass that breaks allowing water flow is protected from physical damage.
Will be interesting to see if someone hit the head accidentally or the unit failed. There are mandated inspection times for systems.