BioLab will not resume manufacturing at its Conyers facility, the company announced Thursday, following a massive chemical fire last September that sent toxic smoke across metro Atlanta.

“After taking steps to meet customer needs through alternative production, and in considering our future business needs carefully, we have made the difficult decision to not restart manufacturing at the Conyers plant,” the company said in a statement. 

BioLab added that it has completed remediation efforts at the fire-damaged site but will continue operating its nearby distribution center to ship products made elsewhere. 

The shuttering of the facility is a victory for environmental justice advocates in Rockdale County who had been engaging in a pressure campaign against the company, which has been cited for several environmental violations.  

Last year’s fire in the predominantly Black city caused thousands of residents to evacuate their homes, while many more were mandated to shelter in place for days. The incident — reportedly caused by a water-reactive chemical becoming wet due to a malfunctioning sprinkler — also caused chemicals to drift into the metro-Atlanta area. The ordeal is now the center of multiple lawsuits.

The U.S. Department of Labor cited BioLab on April 7 for four serious and two “other-than-serious” violations tied to the chemical fire. The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found in its investigation of the facility that improperly stored hazardous chemicals caused the fire, thus proposing that the company pay $61,473 in penalties.

The Committee to Protect Rockdale, formerly named the Shutdown Bio-Lab Coalition, said in a statement Friday that the closure is a “good first step towards accountability” and are calling on local officials to continue to remediate the fallout of the fire.

“The announcement comes after months of continuous pressure from community members, environmental justice organizations, and public health experts. Along with the public health research, the Committee is particularly concerned about an apparent lack of any chemical safety plan on the part of Rockdale County — despite multiple incidents involving just this one company over the last twenty years,” the advocacy group wrote.

The group is also asking the county Board of Commissioners to deny any future business license renewal applications from BioLab’s parent company, KIK Consumer Products. 

“Put simply: we don’t want to wake up in a year to find out that the company has quietly restarted production. We want the Commission to leave no doubt,” the coalition wrote.

Pending Litigation 

The month after the fire took place, Rockdale County filed a federal lawsuit against BioLab Inc., KIK International LLC, and KIK Consumer Products Inc., the parent company of BioLab. In a statement from December 2024, county officials said they are alleging violations of the Clean Air Act, negligence, public nuisance, and private nuisance against BioLab and its parent company. 

Multiple law firms have also filed class-action lawsuits against BioLab on behalf of residents impacted by the fire. 

One resident, who said she’s a part of both a class-action and individual lawsuit, said that the BioLab incident has left her and her husband with various health issues. 

Cheryl Garcia, 72, said that her home is about 7 miles away from the BioLab facility, and that she remembers seeing the smoke plume the day of the fire. Ever since then, she said, she’s been suffering from throat and sinus problems.

“I saw a total of seven different physicians since the BioLab fire because I continue to be hoarse,” said Garcia. “Now I’m on seven different medications, two nasal inhalers, two asthma sprays, [and] two oral medications that I’ll probably have to use for the rest of my life.”

Garcia said that following the incident, her husband had to undergo surgery on his sinuses. 

The retired nurse practitioner said that because the county is predominately Black, she believes they are disproportionately impacted by things like pollution and toxic industry. 

Rockdale County contains more than 600 industrial facilities, according to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency database.

“The chemical companies that are here would never be in a town like Buckhead or Alpharetta, which are more white than Rockdale County. They just would not exist because the population would not tolerate it,” said Garcia. 

The retired nurse practitioner said that she is hoping that county officials will no longer allow BioLab or its parent company to set up new facilities in the area.

“I’m not particularly thrilled with the [county] administration and their response to the fire,” she said. “I mean, how many more are they going to tolerate?”

Officials from BioLab and Rockdale County did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the pending lawsuits.

This story has been updated.