CONYERS, Ga. (AP) — Some residents east of Atlanta were evacuated while others were told to shelter in place Sunday to avoid contaminants from a chemical plant fire that sent dark, billowing gray smoke into the air.
Interstate 20 was shut down in both directions in the area, the Georgia Department of Transportation said in a post on X.
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 she wasn’t sure what chemicals may have been contained in the plume…