A Georgia environmental official died after suddenly collapsing near the state Capitol on Tuesday during a public meeting on last month’s toxic chemical plant inferno outside Atlanta, officials said.
Kenny Johnson, the Rockdale County Soil and Water Conservation District supervisor, testified alongside business owners and leaders about the BioLab chemical fire in Conyers, about 25 miles outside Atlanta, which spewed clouds of hazardous chlorine gas and smoke throughout the area.
Shortly afterward, the 62-year-old collapsed and was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he died.
The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office said that due to the circumstances of Johnson’s death, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has agreed to investigate, 11Alive reported.
An official cause of death will be determined once an autopsy is completed.
After delivering his remarks, Johnson “complained of shortness of breath and subsequently collapsed in the hallway” after the meeting, according to a statement from the Georgia House Democratic Caucus.
State Rep. Viola Davis, a nurse by profession, administered CPR while waiting for EMS to arrive.
“Kenny dedicated years as the Soil and Water Conservation District representative and as an environmental justice advocate,” Davis said. “His unwavering commitment to environmental justice and his testimony on the effects of the Biolab chemical fire on the community remain etched in our memories.”
Johnson was one of a growing number of local Georgia officials and lawmakers calling for BioLab to shut its doors after the fire forced 17,000 to evacuate the area and around 90,000 more to shelter in place as the toxic plume spread.
“I knew that this was going to happen,” Johnson told reporters Monday. “We have an environmental disaster.”
The blaze erupted on Sept. 29 — just days after Hurricane Helene decimated the community — when a malfunctioning fire sprinkler head sprayed water on volatile chemicals, sparking a chain reaction that ended in a sky-high eruption of multicolored toxic smoke visible from 30 miles away, officials said.
The chlorine gas wrought havoc in the area throughout the week as crews battled the fire, forcing thousands to hide in their homes or leave the area completely.
As of Wednesday, those within two miles of BioLab were still under shelter-in-place orders from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. based on air monitoring data, according to the company and local officials.
BioLab manufactures trichloroisocyanuric acid, which is used to kill germs in swimming pools and spas.
The chemical is safe when dissolved in bodies of water, but when it makes contact with smaller amounts of water — like from the fire sprinklers, in this case — it can produce an explosive reaction that releases toxic chlorine gas.
There were two serious fires at the facility in 2020. Rainwater from Hurricane Laura leaked into a Louisiana plant, sparking the first, and another broke out at the Rockdale County site that exposed plant workers and nine firefighters to toxic fumes.
Federal authorities from the US Chemical Safety Board are probing BioLab for possible corner-cutting.
Several lawsuits have already been filed against the company over health— and property-related issues, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.