PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — Gov. Jim Justice declared a burning, smoldering, smoking warehouse in Parkersburg to be a state of emergency.
The declaration eases a consistent path for state funds to be used to fight the blaze, which is spread across several acres and sending black smoke into the sky.
“Multiple state agencies have been involved in assisting Wood County since this terrible fire started on Saturday,” Justice stated in a news release this afternoon. “We are committed to making sure this disaster continues to be addressed and therefore I am issuing this declaration so that essential emergency services continue without interruption.”
The declaration will remain in effect for 30 days unless it is terminated or extended by a subsequent proclamation.
Wood County leaders say they are relieved and grateful that the state of West Virginia has offered financial and tangible support to fight the massive blaze at the old Ames lawn and garden tools plant.
The 420,000 square feet of property, which was storing recyclable plastics for a small business, caught fire early Saturday morning and has been burning ever since, sending a plume of smoke billowing over the city and across the Ohio border.
Local leaders say it will likely take a full week to fully put out the fire, using machinery to pull back property and then trying to douse what’s below.
“This was like a 10-acre smokestack,” Wood County Commissioner Blair Couch said this morning. “When it was really boiling — I think it was like 9 acres, 10-acre lot — it was like one big chimney flume straight up. So that initial flume is dropping stuff.”
Even today, rainy and overcast, the odor of the fire loomed over the city. Schools were closed, and government offices were shutting down. Residents were urged to remain indoors or to go to a Red Cross Emergency shelter.
At the site, emergency vehicle after emergency vehicle drove to and from the fire. Most were from volunteer fire departments from surrounding areas of West Virginia and Ohio.
State officials promised their support this morning during an emergency Wood County Commission meeting. The meeting was attended by local leaders, local emergency officials, state Military Affairs and Public Safety Director Jeff Sandy, state Homeland Security Director Jimmy Gianato, state Senate President Mitch Carmichael and state Senator Mike Azinger, who represents the area.
“The governor, last night on our conversation — it was amazing his dedication not only to the people of Wood County but to the state. He wants to do what’s right,” Sandy said.
“To date the state of West Virginia has supplied 1,000 gallons of foam, which has a value of approximately $30,000 that was provided by the West Virginia Air National Guard. We have supplied as of yesterday at noon, 1,500 gallons of diesel fuel to keep the fire trucks rolling. And the Department of Transportation has been hauling large tankers of water to facilitate the water needs of the site.”
He said the state Fire Marshal’s Office has also started a preliminary investigation.
Many local officials had been dealing with the fire all weekend. They said it broke out about 12:30 a.m. Saturday.
Couch, the Wood County Commissioner, expressed relief that contractor Specialized Professional Services Inc., a hazmat and environmental emergency response company from Washington, Pa., was able to lead the effort. One of the questions about funding had been the ability to keep paying the contractor.
“When you’ve got a really bad problem, you’ve got to call somebody that does this every day,” Couch said this morning.
Couch said the bill for the contractor already had been about $160,000 and was expected to grow.
“They came to me last night and said we need to bring a lot more assets,” Couch said. “So they left and said we’ll come back with a price. He came and sat me down in the command center and said, ‘It’s about $60,000 a day.'”
At that point, commissioners agreed to have an emergency meeting Sunday evening to decide what to do about the cost.
Couch said he thought to himself, “We can agree to do this, and we’ll bankrupt our county. But I’m willing to do that because this can’t stay for weeks and smolder and cause health issues. So if it bankrupts us, fine. In 15 days we’re looking at how we pay payroll. But I don’t care. It’s got to be turned out.”
Gaining assurances of support from the state means the county is not likely to have to make such a dramatic decision, Couch said.
“I think we’ve impressed upon the state of West Virginia that mentality that we have where we can’t just let it burn out. We can’t just put two departments on it and let them squirt some water on it for two three weeks until it’s gone,” he said.
“Thank God the state has a lot more zeroes on their checking account than we do. So when they say ‘We’ll reimburse you,’ I haven’t even cared to ask, ‘Does that include what we did on Saturday?’ It doesn’t matter.”
The owners of the burning property, IEI Plastics, were present at the meeting Sunday night and again this morning. They pledged to help through their insurance.
Couch acknowledged that the business owners are hindered in what they can say because the environment is potentially litigious.
“They’re amenable,” Couch said. “They use the right language, and I agree because we have attorneys in the room that will probably be filing suit against them. They’ve got to be careful, as well they should be.”
Couch said he’s been taking calls from a variety of public servants, asking how they can help.
“Bring everything,” Couch said he responds. “We need your money, we need your resources, we need your time, we need everything you can bring. If you think we need it, we need it.”
Over the next days, Couch said, the fire will have to be fought by using equipment to remove material to gain access to other smoldering material.
“As the fire sparked, it melted the metal building on top of it so it was like taking a wooden cutting board and the stuff inside’s bubbling. Now we’ve got to crack that open and pull it back, and when they do that you see all this fire flare up,” Couch said.
As operators get closer, they need to be additionally cautious and outfitted in full hazmat suits and with bottled air, he said.
“It is a slow progression,” Couch said, “and it’s gonna require a lot of water, it’s gonna require more foam, heavy equipment operators, manpower.”
“Parkersburg update https://t.co/1vjuBD5mIn
— Brad McElhinny (@BradMcElhinny) October 23, 2017