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Shelter-in-place, evacuation orders lifted a day after chemical plant fire sent a plume containing chlorine high into the air
Updated 8:20 PM EDT, Mon September 30, 2024

The EPA’s network of air quality monitors around metro Atlanta showed moderate to high levels of small particulate air pollution around the city on Monday morning. Small particles can lodge deep into the lungs and aggravate lung conditions like asthma. They are also tiny enough to cross into the bloodstream where they contribute to heart attacks and strokes.
A permanent air monitor in Lawrenceville showed a level of 153 on Monday, making it unhealthy for anyone to breathe. An air sensor in Decatur also read high initially but had dropped to moderate levels by mid-afternoon. At moderate levels, people who are sensitive to air pollution, such as those with asthma, should stay indoors. Others should limit their outdoor activity, according to the AirNow website.
“I am seeing that there are other pollutant concentrations, pollutant levels, that are elevated in certain parts of the city right now that are probably also associated with that release,” from the Biolab facility, said Jeremy Sarnat, an assistant professor of environmental and occupational health at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.
However, EPA crews on the ground did not see any traces of the chemicals of concern – chlorine and hydrochloric acid – in the currently available data, Bryan Vasser, an on-scene coordinator with the agency, said Monday afternoon. “We didn’t see concentrations of those chemicals in the air that would exceed an action level for us … or that would seem unsafe to the public,” Vasser said. He indicated air monitoring continues on site, in the evacuation zone and beyond to determine whether ongoing evacuations and shelter-in-place orders are appropriate.

[The fire broke out on the roof of the plant around 5 a.m. Sunday. Water from what officials earlier described as a malfunctioning sprinkler head “came in contact with a water reactive chemical and produced a plume,” county officials said in a statement. Firefighters were able to contain the fire, but it reignited hours later, Rockdale County Sheriff Eric Levett said in a video message posted on Facebook.]