US cites Georgia firm after chemical cloud disrupted life in Atlanta's suburbs

CONYERS, Ga. — Federal authorities have found that a Georgia company improperly stored hazardous chemicals before a fire southeast of Atlanta last year that produced a toxic chemical cloud over the area.

The Sept. 29 blaze at the plant in Conyers led to the closure of a major interstate, classes canceled for schoolchildren and forced thousands of residents to shelter in place as the chemical cloud moved around Atlanta's suburbs.

BioLab Inc. was cited for six violations, including four serious violations, and now faces more than $60,000 in proposed penalties, the U.S. Department of Labor said in a statement this week.

The Department of Labor's investigation found that improperly stored hazardous chemicals were the cause of the fire, which was investigated by the agency's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

''OSHA's investigation did not focus on the cause of the incident, and the agency shared no findings with the company that would substantiate the statement in the press release about the cause,'' the company said in a statement Tuesday to The Associated Press.

BioLab ''takes operational safety very seriously, and the company has been closely cooperating with OSHA,'' the statement added.

The company has several days to comply with the penalties or contest them. It did not indicate exactly how it plans to proceed, but it said it will continue cooperating with federal authorities.

A BioLab employee at a storage warehouse reported hearing a ''popping sound'' and immediately saw that a product reactive to water was wet, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board said in a report on the fire in November. Fire officials said at the time that a sprinkler head had malfunctioned, causing water to mix with a water-reactive chemical.

The worker tried unsuccessfully to isolate the chemical product and called 911 as ''large toxic vapor plumes'' formed inside the building and then flames could be seen in the area. A second fire broke out later, producing ''thick black smoke, followed by multicolored plumes,'' the chemical safety board said.

Parts of a building collapsed during the fire, and the area remained an ''active emergency response scene" for nearly four weeks, the agency said in its November report. More than 90,000 people were told to shelter in place.