Sprinkler head causes major chemical release at BioLab trichloroisocyanuric acid facility in Conyers, GA

Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Via the Atlanta Journal Constitution: 

A fire reignited Sunday at a chemical facility in Conyers, officials said, forcing the evacuations of local residents and leading to several road closures, including I-20.

Officials said the blaze reignited after being contained Sunday morning at BioLab on Old Covington Highway, the third such incident at the plant over the past seven years. Photos showed a massive plume of smoke in the sky that was visible from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport — about 30 miles away.

The fire started about 5 a.m. after a sprinkler head malfunctioned and mixed with a water-reactive chemical and wiring at the plant, Rockdale County fire Chief Marian McDaniel said during a press conference Sunday. She said they were working on removing the material away from the water source at the facility and that the fire was contained to the roof. There were employees inside the plant but no injuries have been reported at this time.

“Once we can get that chemical out of the building and allow it to burn off we’ll be in a much better shape,” McDaniel said.

...Over her seven years with the fire department, McDaniel said it was the third such incident of “this magnitude,” in which a product mixed with water and started a chemical reaction at the plant. She said the most recent incident likely happened in 2021. The Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA) said it issued a shelter in place order on behalf of Rockdale’s emergency management agency, but no timetable has been provided as to when the area will be safe.

I am rather chagrined to note that I was very aware of the BioLab facility in Lake Charles having a release in 2020, but not aware that the Conyers facility had two such releases in 2020 as well. (The CSB writeup of the Conyers releases starts on page 72, and seems to also involve inadvertent water exposure.) 

I am sure that the core problem is that "keep this stuff away from water" is harder than it seems, but I don't know, stopping major PR snafus and millions of dollars worth of preventable damage would seem to me to be important as well. I guess we'll have to read the new CSB report when it comes out.