ANDREW LIMBONG, HOST:
On September 29, one year ago, a fire broke out at a BioLab facility in Conyers, Georgia. That's a suburb of Atlanta. The fire blanketed the town in toxic smoke, something that people there are still grappling with. Georgia Public Broadcasting's investigative podcast "Manufacturing Danger: The BioLab Story" looks at the incident and its aftermath, and it raises questions about safety standards across the country. GPB's Pamela Kirkland hosts the podcast and joins us now. Hi, Pamela.
PAMELA KIRKLAND, BYLINE: Hello. Thank you for having me.
LIMBONG: So BioLab was a major producer of cleaning products - right? - for pools and spas. The fire last year produced a plume of chemical smoke that caused thousands to evacuate and even more to shelter in place. So can you just remind us of what unfolded at BioLab that morning?
KIRKLAND: Yeah, exactly. So we've been talking about another anniversary which plays into this. That weekend, the state of Georgia was bracing for impact from Hurricane Helene. The metro Atlanta area was largely spared, but on Sunday morning, emergency alerts were going off for a completely different reason.
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "MANUFACTURING DANGER: THE BIOLAB STORY")
SANDRA STEPHENS JORDAN: It was talking about a biohazard in Rockdale County.
RENA GOULDBOURNE: By the time I looked out, it was, like, a huge plume.
JORDAN: You see this big plume. It's coming towards our direction of our house.
ASHLEY CLOTFELTER: And he was already at the mailbox with a gas mask on. Like, he didn't stay at the door until I answered. And he just yelled, you need to evacuate.
UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: Rockdale County 911. How can I help you?
UNIDENTIFIED EMPLOYEE: We got a sprinkler head bust at BioLab (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: Which - where?
UNIDENTIFIED EMPLOYEE: Oh, plant 12, I'm sorry. It's plant 12. I'm out of breath. I'm sorry.
KIRKLAND: So inside the BioLab facility, two workers found that chlorine-based chemicals had mixed with a small amount of water. So they called 911, as you just heard, to report the warehouse was filling with smoke. Within hours, the building was engulfed in flames. Firefighters were able to put out that fire, but later that same day, more material reacted with water causing a second fire. Outside, the fire caused a giant plume of toxic smoke, forcing shelter in place orders and evacuations. Jean (ph) Sadler has lived in Conyers for more than 50 years. She actually lives about a minute from that plant. She was one of those who was told to evacuate.
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "MANUFACTURING DANGER: THE BIOLAB STORY")
JANE SADLER: So we're thinking, oh, OK, they'll have it under control by 5:00. So we go to the church, and we sit at the church for all those hours. So finally, we realize we can't go home. So we go to our daughters'.
KIRKLAND: And we follow Jean all through Season 1. She talks about living through this fire and others and how it's caused her just so much anxiety. She's in her 70s. She lives on a fixed income. And her main concern is that the wealth that she's built for her family through owning that home that she's had in Conyers for so long has all been wiped out from this fire. So she's really just hoping to be made whole by this company.
LIMBONG: In hearing from longtime residents - right? - like Jean Sadler, you help us realize that BioLab's problems go back a long way, right? How far back do they go?
KIRKLAND: Yeah, BioLab has had a number of incidents at the Conyers facility over the years. So we found five major accidents - a 2004 fire that prompted evacuations, a 2015 fire ended up injuring six Rockdale County firefighters. That following year, residents near the plant were voluntarily evacuated after a fire was reported. And in 2020, there was another fire, and most recently, 2024. But we also found that the fire exposed gaps in oversight by federal agencies like the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. So the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, or CSB, is the nongovernmental federal agency that's been investigating this fire, as well as these past fires, and they've suggested for decades that chemicals like the one that caught fire in Conyers be subjected to stronger regulation by federal agencies. The problem is that that agency has no teeth. So for all the recommendations that they've been making for two decades, they don't have any power to enforce any of them.
LIMBONG: And what does BioLab say to that?
KIRKLAND: BioLab defends its safety record, both in Conyers and in Louisiana, where they have another plant and there was another fire. In a statement, they say they've been rigorous about actioning enhancements to their facilities, policies and practices. And in Conyers, they say they enacted safety enhancements and implemented more training for employees. The company also says that they're cooperating with federal investigators as these investigations are ongoing.
LIMBONG: Have you heard from federal agencies in response to your reporting?
KIRKLAND: We reached out to the CSB and OSHA, and as both are still investigating, they won't comment until the investigations are complete. So far, the CSB found that the company was storing 14 million pounds of chemicals at the time of the fire in Conyers, and that's more than double, actually, what they told Rockdale County that that warehouse would hold. They haven't determined a cause of the fire. OSHA has actually gone further than the CSB, though. Their agency blames improper chemical storage as the reason for the fire last year. They've proposed a $61,000 fine and cited the company for multiple serious violations related to chemical storage, emergency response and worker protection.
LIMBONG: All right. We've been talking to Georgia Public Radio's Pamela Kirkland about her podcast "Manufacturing Danger." And Pamela, you spent time with a number of residents who've been living with the aftermath of the fire. What stands out to you about the residents who claim their health has been affected?
KIRKLAND: You know, one of the stories that really sticks with me is Cheryl Garcia's. She complained about her asthma and it getting worse after the fire. But she noticed that her voice was weaker and much more raspy following the accident, and she jokingly refers to it as her, quote-unquote, "BioLab voice."
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "MANUFACTURING DANGER: THE BIOLAB STORY")
CHERYL GARCIA: Well, I had a referral, actually, from a primary care doc back in November, but I never acted on it because I thought, oh, it'll get better. But I finally decided, no, go ahead and use the referral. And I'm happy I did because once she did the scope and saw some nodules on my vocal cords and some spots of damage, she said, I can't say that these are burns, but there's clearly some damage to your vocal cords.
KIRKLAND: One of the things we try to get at in this podcast is just how hard it's been for a lot of these residents to get their doctors to say that the BioLab fire was the cause of their symptoms, like hypertension, asthma or migraines. And it's very hard to prove a connection like that.
LIMBONG: Does the company believe those claims that, you know, there has been a health fallout from this fire?
KIRKLAND: We reached out to BioLab about the health concerns that residents say that they think are a result from the fire, and the company directed me to resource information that's available from Rockdale County, from the EPA. The company did, however, stand up a community assistance center and a hotline not long after the fire to help process claims that were being submitted by residents and also impacted businesses near the plant. They stopped accepting new reimbursement claims about three months after the fire.
LIMBONG: Pamela, your reporting shows that this is not an isolated case - right? - that there's a larger pattern of chemical plant accidents across the country. How did you come across this realization?
KIRKLAND: Yeah. Since the fire, the podcast has focused on communities from other parts of the country reaching out in response. There were actually residents from East Palestine, Ohio, who are still dealing with the fallout from chemical exposure after that 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment. They were at the Georgia State Capitol and in Conyers for a meeting in December last year to offer support. More recently, in Louisiana, there was a plant explosion that's left the community of Roseland dealing with the fallout of an industrial accident, and Conyers residents are reaching out to them. So it's been kind of cool to see how these communities are really leaning on one another because they don't feel like they can rely solely on state and federal agencies for the response.
LIMBONG: Pamela Kirkland is the host of GPB's "Manufacturing Danger: The BioLab Story," available wherever you get your podcasts. Season 1 is available now, and you can listen to Season 2 starting on Monday. Pamela, thank you so much for all your reporting on this.
KIRKLAND: Thank you for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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