Newly uncovered state environmental records are providing a clearer picture of the risks created by the 2024 BioLab chemical fire in Conyers, two years after the plume forced evacuations, school closures and road shutdowns across Rockdale County.
Atlanta News First Investigates reported Tuesday that internal Georgia Environmental Protection Division records estimated dozens of people may have been exposed to chlorine at levels capable of causing severe injury, with a smaller group potentially exposed to levels that could be fatal.
Records describe risk after hours of exposure
The documents say that after eight hours of chlorine exposure, 27 people were estimated to have encountered hazard levels that could possibly cause severe injury. Twenty of those people may have faced levels capable of causing death. The records also identified at least 59 people exposed to hazardous effects from soot.
A Georgia Tech study cited in the investigation found significant chemical levels as far as Midtown Atlanta, about 27 miles from the Conyers facility. Researchers detected chlorine as expected, along with elevated bromine compounds.
What caused the fire
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board concluded that water from a corroded, leaking sprinkler reached water-reactive pool chemicals, triggering the fire and toxic gas release. The federal investigation also found earlier inspections had identified corrosion in parts of the sprinkler system.
Several residents have filed lawsuits alleging health effects connected to the release. Those claims remain contested, and public-health experts quoted by Atlanta News First cautioned that linking a specific cancer diagnosis directly to a single exposure can be difficult. BioLab says it completed cleanup of the affected site and has ended operations in Conyers.
The new records add detail to the known exposure risk while lawsuits and long-term health questions continue through the courts and medical research.
