{
  "id": "2024-09-30-spelman-college-biolab-chemical-spill",
  "slug": "spelman-college-biolab-chemical-spill-2024-09-30",
  "institution": {
    "name": "Spelman College",
    "shortName": "Spelman",
    "state": "GA",
    "type": "hbcu",
    "alertSystemName": "Spelman ALERT",
    "enrollment": 2600
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2024-09-30",
    "type": "hazmat",
    "cleryCategory": "emergency-notification",
    "headline": "Hazardous materials incident, September 30, 2024",
    "summary": "A massive fire at the [BioLab chemical plant in Conyers, Georgia, on September 29, 2024](https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/29/us/rockdale-county-biolab-fire-georgia/index.html) sent a chlorine-laden plume drifting across metro Atlanta. On September 30, Spelman College (a historically Black women's college in the Atlanta University Center) issued a Spelman ALERT advising students to remain indoors and close windows and doors as haze settled over the city. The college issued an [air-quality update on October 1](https://www.spelman.edu/alerts/alerts/2024/10/10012024-off-campus-chemical-spill-update.html) after additional testing found no immediate life-safety issues.",
    "outcome": "Atlanta Fire Rescue conducted additional air-quality testing and found no immediate life-safety issues; the haze began to clear from the city. The shelter advisory was issued out of caution given the off-campus chemical release roughly 30 miles east in Conyers.",
    "resolution": "confirmed-threat"
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestampApprox": "September 30, 2024, as the BioLab plume affected Atlanta air quality",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "Spelman community.\n\nThe Atlanta Fire Rescue Department (AFRD) has tested areas west from Candler Road to Moreland Ave. (close to the area seeing the haze). The latest tests determined no immediate life safety issues have been identified. “The haze observed earlier is also beginning to clear from the city,” officials said.\n\nThe city has requested more testing from the Environmental Protection Division (EPD).\n\nWhat precautions can you take?\nIf you are worried about air quality:\n\nStay indoor.\n\nClose all windows and doors.\n\nTurn off any ventilation systems until further notice.\n\nWear a mask when outside.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "annotations": [
        "Full text captured from Spelman's own alert archive page (Spelman Alerts Center, September 30, 2024); the \"Stay indoor.\" typo (missing an \"s\") is preserved verbatim from the source."
      ],
      "characterCount": 607,
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.spelman.edu/alerts/alerts/2024/09/09302024-off-campus-chemical-spill.html",
      "sourceDescription": "Spelman Alerts Center — Off-Campus Chemical Spill"
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "update",
      "timestampApprox": "October 1, 2024, after Atlanta Fire Rescue completed additional air-quality testing",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "Spelman Community,\n\nRockdale County has issued a new shelter in place order for Rockdale County.\n\nThe Georgia Poison Center has created a hotline for calls relating to symptoms. If you have symptoms that may be related - such as nose, throat, or eye irritation, or difficulty breathing - call your health provider or the Georgia Poison Center at 404-856-6252.\n\nThe Atlanta Fire Rescue Department is conducting additional testing of our air quality in Atlanta.\n\nWe continue to await additional health guidance from the Georgia Department of Public Health for more health-related information.\n\nFor the latest info from EPA, view live data from the site, visit the Environmental Protection Agency.\n\nVisit the Atlanta Regional Commission to view maps of the counties surrounding Rockdale County. Spelman College is located in Fulton County.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "annotations": [
        "Full update text captured from Spelman's own alert archive page (Spelman Alerts Center, October 1, 2024); reports a newly issued Rockdale County shelter-in-place order and a Georgia Poison Center symptom hotline. (A prior draft annotation here described Atlanta Fire Rescue's \"no immediate life safety issues\" finding, but that quote belongs to alert 1's text, not this message.)",
        "Classified as an update rather than an all-clear because it reports a new shelter-in-place order and health-hotline guidance rather than lifting any prior restriction."
      ],
      "characterCount": 836,
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.spelman.edu/alerts/alerts/2024/10/10012024-off-campus-chemical-spill-update.html",
      "sourceDescription": "Spelman Alerts Center — Chemical Spill Update"
    }
  ],
  "context": "On September 29, 2024, a chemical reaction at the [BioLab plant in Conyers, Georgia, sparked a massive fire and a toxic plume](https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/29/us/rockdale-county-biolab-fire-georgia/index.html) containing chlorine. Shifting winds carried the haze across metro Atlanta (roughly 30 miles west of the plant) prompting authorities to tell tens of thousands of residents to shelter in place. Spelman College, a historically Black women's college in the Atlanta University Center, issued a [Spelman ALERT on September 30](https://www.spelman.edu/alerts/alerts/2024/09/09302024-off-campus-chemical-spill.html) advising the community to stay indoors, close windows and doors, and turn off ventilation systems. The EPA found elevated chlorine and hydrogen chloride levels during air monitoring from September 30 to October 2 and [continued monitoring through October 17](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/georgia-chemical-fire-investigation-rcna181541). Spelman's [October 1 update](https://www.spelman.edu/alerts/alerts/2024/10/10012024-off-campus-chemical-spill-update.html) relayed Atlanta Fire Rescue's determination that no immediate life-safety issues had been identified and that the haze was clearing. The case is a strong example of an off-campus hazmat event triggering an on-campus emergency notification: the hazard originated dozens of miles away yet still required precautionary shelter guidance for a residential campus.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "The hazard originated at the BioLab plant fire in Conyers on September 29, 2024, roughly 30 miles east of Spelman, and reached campus as a chlorine-laden haze",
    "Spelman's September 30 alert told the community to stay indoors, close windows and doors, and turn off ventilation systems",
    "Atlanta Fire Rescue's October 1 testing found no immediate life-safety issues and the haze began clearing",
    "EPA air monitoring detected elevated chlorine and hydrogen chloride near the site and continued through October 17",
    "An off-campus hazmat event that nonetheless required a precautionary on-campus shelter advisory for a residential women's HBCU"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Message: Air Quality Due to Off-Campus Chemical Spill - Update - Spelman College",
      "url": "https://www.spelman.edu/alerts/alerts/2024/10/10012024-off-campus-chemical-spill-update.html",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "Message: Air Quality Due to Off-Campus Chemical Spill - Spelman College",
      "url": "https://www.spelman.edu/alerts/alerts/2024/09/09302024-off-campus-chemical-spill.html",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "Conyers BioLab: Shelter-in-place, evacuation orders lifted a day after chemical plant fire - CNN",
      "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/29/us/rockdale-county-biolab-fire-georgia/index.html",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "U.S. Chemical Safety Board releases findings on Georgia lab chemical release and fire - NBC News",
      "url": "https://www.nbcnews.com/news/georgia-chemical-fire-investigation-rcna181541",
      "type": "local-media"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "high",
  "tags": [
    "hazmat",
    "hbcu",
    "georgia",
    "air-quality",
    "shelter-in-place",
    "biolab",
    "off-campus-hazard",
    "atlanta-university-center"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-05-28",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-07-17",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}