Conyers, a city of roughly 17,000, has been evacuated and surrounding Rockdale County, with a population of nearly 100,000, is under shelter-in-place guidance continuing into the early morning hours of Monday after a fire at a BioLab facility and resulting chemical plume.

A fire at Biolab, a chemical plant in Conyers, is causing the evacuation of people who live nearby as well as a number of road closures.

Authorities on Monday night ended a shelter-in-place order for more than 90,000 people east of Atlanta following a weekend chemical plant fire that sent a massive plume of dark smoke into the Georgia sky and led to complaints about a strong chemical smell and haze.

The fire ignited when a sprinkler head malfunctioned around 5 a.m. Sunday at the BioLab plant in Conyers, Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel told reporters.

More than 90,000 residents in a county east of Atlanta were told to keep sheltering in place Monday and businesses were told to stay closed a day after a chemical plant fire sent a massive plume of dark smoke high into the sky that could been seen from miles away.