BioLab fire samples may have contained ‘Erin Brockovich’ carcinogen

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BioLab. FOX 5 Atlanta photo

CONYERS, Ga. - New reporting by Pamela Kirkland of Georgia Public Broadcasting is raising new questions about whether dangerous pollution was fully tested for after the September 2024 BioLab chemical fire in Conyers.

After the fire, state environmental officials found higher-than-normal levels of chromium in ash samples. Chromium can occur naturally and is usually not harmful, but experts warn that extreme heat — like that from a chemical fire — can change it into hexavalent chromium, a cancer-causing substance made widely known in the movie Erin Brockovich.

Internal emails obtained by GPB from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division show a state environmental risk assessor warned that the fire created ideal conditions for that dangerous transformation.

It’s the same chemical linked to coal ash pollution that residents in the Middle Georgia town of Juliette have for years said made them sick after it entered their drinking water from Georgia Power’s Plant Scherer.

The warning was strong enough that officials recommended future testing specifically look for hexavalent chromium. However, when BioLab’s contractor later submitted a cleanup plan, testing for the toxic form of chromium was left out — and the state approved the plan anyway, according to GPB.

Independent scientists say that decision is troubling. Later samples taken months after the fire showed chromium levels far higher than the original tests — more than 13 times higher in some cases.

Because the samples were never tested to see what type of chromium was present, experts say there’s no way to know whether residents were exposed to the cancer-causing form while it slowly breaks down in soil over time.

Research from California wildfires supports those concerns, showing that fires can regularly turn harmless chromium into its toxic form, even at lower temperatures. While state officials referenced that research internally, residents say they were never warned. Many describe being evacuated, finding ash on their homes, and experiencing health issues afterward — all without clear answers.

The state, BioLab and GHD USA, an environmental contractor hired by BioLab to handle the cleanup, did not respond to requests for comments from the GPB.

The backstory:

The BioLab chemical facility in Conyers has been the site of multiple safety incidents over the years, but the most serious occurred in September 2024, when a fire broke out at the plant and sent a toxic plume over parts of Rockdale County. The fire forced more than 17,000 residents to evacuate and prompted another 90,000 people to shelter in place for several days as smoke and ash spread across nearby neighborhoods.

Investigators later found that BioLab was storing nearly 14 million pounds of reactive chemicals at the time of the fire — more than twice the amount the company initially planned to keep on site. The blaze burned chlorine-based pool chemicals at extreme temperatures, creating hazardous conditions that raised concerns about air quality, soil contamination, and long-term health risks.

In the months that followed, state and federal agencies conducted environmental testing and cleanup efforts, while residents reported ash on homes, debris in yards, and lingering health symptoms. Ongoing reporting and investigations have since raised questions about whether all potential contaminants were fully tested for, keeping the BioLab fire under scrutiny well into 2025 and beyond.

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