Georgia chemical lab fire prompts evacuations, shelter-in-place orders for entire county

Residents of an entire Georgia county were asked to shelter in place after a fire and ongoing chemical release erupted at a plant east of Atlanta on Sunday.

The shelter-in-place recommendation for residents of Rockdale County, population 93,570, was valid through midnight, the county said in a statement. As an associated chemical reaction continued to send a gaseous plume over the area Sunday night, residents near the plant in Conyer, Georgia, were under mandatory evacuation orders.