A weekend fire that sent a massive plume of dark smoke into the Georgia sky has led to complaints about a strong chemical smell and haze several miles away across metro Atlanta, where some schools canceled outdoor activities and others closer to the fire remained stuck at home sheltering from the outdoor air.
More than 90,000 residents east of Atlanta were told to keep sheltering in place Monday, a day after the chemical plant fire.
The haze and chemical smell had spread to Atlanta by Monday morning, prompting firefighters to use detectors to check the air quality in various parts of the city, Mayor Andre Dickens said.
Northeast of Atlanta, Arynne Johnson took her Great Danes outside in Suwanee on Monday morning when she encountered a foggy air that “slapped you in the face,” she recalled.
“I used to work at a water park, and it felt like walking into a pool house,” she said.
Closer to the source of the fire, officials said chlorine, a harmful irritant, had been detected in the air from the fire at the BioLab plant in Conyers, Georgia, the Rockdale County government said in a statement Monday. The plant is about 25 miles (40 kilometres) southeast of downtown Atlanta.