More than 90,000 residents in a county east of Atlanta were told to keep sheltering in place Monday and businesses were told to stay closed a day after a chemical plant fire sent a massive plume of dark smoke high into the sky that could been seen for miles.
Air quality surveys done by the Environmental Protection Agency and the state Environmental Protection Division 鈥渞evealed the harmful irritant chlorine鈥 detected in the air from the fire at the BioLab plant in Conyers, Georgia, the Rockdale County government said in statement early Monday.
鈥淔or everyone sheltering in place, the best practice is to turn the air conditioning off and keep windows and doors shut,鈥 the statement said.
The fire was brought under control around 4 p.m. Sunday, officials said.
Interstate 20, which was shut down in both directions in the area Sunday, was reopened Monday morning, officials said.
People in the northern part of Rockdale County, north of Interstate 20, were ordered to evacuate on Sunday, and others were told to shelter in place.
Sheriff鈥檚 office spokesperson Christine Nesbitt did not know the number of people evacuated, although it covered a large portion of the community of Conyers. Media reports said the number was 17,000.
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.
McDaniel said there were employees inside the plant, but no injuries have been reported, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
BioLab鈥檚 website says it is the swimming pool and spa water care division of Lawrenceville, Georgia-based KIK Consumer Products. Automated messages at two phone numbers for the company said to call back during business hours. An email was sent to the company Monday.
鈥淲e are actively responding to an occurrence at our facility in Conyers, Georgia,鈥 a BioLab representative said in a statement provided to the Journal-Constitution. 鈥淥ur employees are accounted for with no injuries reported. Our team is on the scene, working with first responders and local authorities to assess and contain the situation.鈥
A small fire on the plant鈥檚 roof was initially contained but reignited Sunday afternoon, authorities said.
This week, Avery Haines follows migrants' harrowing journeys across the Darien Gap. Strict new rules to stem the flood of migrants through the notorious stretch of dense jungle appear to be working, but advocates fear it could backfire.
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Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Qassem, in his first public address since Israel assassinated the group's chief last week, said the movement is ready to confront any Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon.
A pedestrian has died after reportedly getting struck by an OPP cruiser in Bala early Sunday morning.
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Bullet casings recovered from the scene of a B.C. woman鈥檚 murder 30 years ago will be retested for DNA after the province鈥檚 highest court ruled it is 鈥渋n the interests of justice鈥 to do so in support of an ongoing appeal.
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Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Walz will meet Tuesday in the lone vice presidential debate of the 2024 election, bringing together undercards who have spent two months going after each other and the opposing nominees who top the major-party tickets.
Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Qassem, in his first public address since Israel assassinated the group's chief last week, said the movement is ready to confront any Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris poked at Donald Trump over crowd sizes, his refusal to debate again and his privileged background on Sunday as she hauled in campaign cash in California and held a raucous rally at the same Nevada venue where the Republican nominee had appeared just two weeks ago.
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A tale about a taxicab hauling gold and sinking through the ice on Larder Lake, Ont., in December 1937 has captivated a man from that town for decades.
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Overnight on Thursday as the community of Elliot Lake was resting to prepare for the upcoming Kraft Hockeyville celebrations, when vandals struck a building that has been top of mind for the northern Ontario city for more than a year.
Ontario Provincial Police remind the public that 鈥榓 case is never closed until it is solved,鈥 while highlighting the force's continued investigation of the 1996 disappearance of Melanie Ethier.
Sault residents may notice some commotion on the Algoma University campus over the next two weeks as a team conducts an archaeological search.
He may not have logged the fastest time or even gone the full distance, but residents of a Newfoundland town agree the goat who unexpectedly joined the local weekend half marathon was the event's undisputed champion.
A mother in a community where the cost of living is one of the highest in the country says grocery prices are 'inhumane' and retailers are putting profits ahead of people鈥檚 basic human right to food.
A soccer game in England on Tuesday night drove a spike in online traffic across the Atlantic to a website launched by the Newfoundland and Labrador government.
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