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| - Misleading: US chemical warehouse fire misidentified as biohazard on Chinese internet
A recent fire at a commercial facility in the U.S. state of Georgia sparked widespread concern about potential biohazards on Chinese social media.
On Sept. 30, a video showing what appears to be thick smoke was posted on Douyin, alongside a caption that read, “It’s scary. The word is that there was an explosion in a biological lab.”
The post prompted users to comment that it was a disaster at a “U.S. biological lab” and there were viral and bacterial outbreaks.
The video has garnered over 900,000 likes and 623,000 shares.
The post was uploaded shortly after a fire and explosion ripped through a facility belonging to a company called BioLab in Conyers, Georgia, on Sept. 29.
The explosion reportedly sent a plume of dark smoke into the sky and forced 17,000 residents to evacuate.
However, the claim is misleading. Despite the name, the BioLab facility was not a biological laboratory.
Geolocating the facility
Annie Lab found similar footage uploaded to X on Sept. 29, with a caption saying it was taken on “I-20 in Conyers, Georgia.” A photo showing a similar scene appeared on Facebook around the same time, and it also mentioned Interstate 20.
Using visual clues from the misleading video, Annie Lab could geolocate where the video was taken.
In the first three seconds of the misleading Douyin video, we could see a green highway sign that reads “Exit 80 West Ave Conyers.”
We located West Avenue around 1.75 km from the highway sign.
A second highway sign, seen at the 0:07 mark of the misleading video, located further from the first sign.
Based on the locations of the two highway signs, Annie Lab could pinpoint the location of where the Douyin video was taken: Iris Drive Southwest, next to Interstate 20.
Using the BioLab Chlorine Viper Viewer imagery from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, we can confirm that the smoke was emanating from the direction of the BioLab facility.
‘Not biological laboratory’
Daniel Hoadley, a representative from Kekst CNC, a consulting firm hired by BioLab for media inquiries, told Annie Lab in an email that the facility in Conyers “is not a biological laboratory … The company is called BioLab.”
The building that caught fire served as a storage warehouse for BioLab, which supplies water treatment products for recreational applications, he said.
BioLab manufactures various pool and spa cleaning chemical products, the company’s official website said.
According to U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, these products contain trichloroisocyanuric acid (TCCA), a chemical commonly used for pool maintenance.
In a press conference on Sept. 29, Rockdale County Fire Rescue Department chief Marian McDaniel explained that a fire started on the roof of the building in the early morning. It activated sprinklers, which reacted with chemicals stored inside and reignited another fire around noon.
Chemicals released from the fire included chlorine, chloramine and chloride compounds, according to the Georgia emergency authorities. They warned that the compounds “may cause irritation to the skin and mucous membranes, including the eyes, nasal passages, and respiratory system.”
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