ROCKDALE COUNTY, Ga. — The more the plume of smoke hovers over Rockdale County, the more people there become frustrated that they’re going through this once again. This is the third significant incident at the BioLab facility.
Some people think BioLab should no longer exist in this community.
“Yeah, they need to shut it down,” Dennis Lester told Channel 2′s Tom Jones.
Some people say they have had enough of Biolab after the latest fire that left huge plumes of chlorine-filled smoke floating over the city.
“They should go outside of the city,” Ronnie Basher said.
James Tingley sent Jones a video of the fire and smoke after it ignited Sunday morning. On the video, you hear him say it “looks like an atomic bomb went off.”
The fire is out now, but massive plumes of smoke continue to float over the area. It forced people like Lester to evacuate.
“Well, I’m just able to get in my house because I was evacuated for a couple of days.”
Others have to shelter in place. Many businesses had to shut down. In some cases, people couldn’t get their medicine.
“The drug store was closed yesterday,” Jim Stanford said. “I couldn’t get in.”
The county held a news conference to give an update on what’s being done to resolve this issue.
“We are on top of this situation,” Rockdale County Chairman Oz Nesbitt said.
Rockdale County’s Fire Chief said an initial plan to remove the chemicals causing the problem at the plant failed.
“The new plan now is to bring in rolling containers to offload some of the product a little at a time,” Chief Marian McDaniel explained.
The county said the air quality is not hazardous. Although, it urged people with respiratory issues to remain inside.
The county also gave an update on how the smoke is affecting its water supply.
“I can safely tell you that our water here in Rockdale County is safe to drink,” Kimbry Peek with Rockdale Water Resources said.
Basher had to shut down his beauty supply store because of the plumes of smoke. He says he’s seeing fewer customers now that he’s back open. Basher thinks BioLab should compensate businesses for their losses.
“They should. They should. I lost almost $8,000 in three days. Yeah, just shut down.”
The county says it will have a serious conversation with BioLab’s leadership after all this is over about a long-term plan to prevent this from happening again.