CHARLESTON, W.Va. — After burning for eight days, a warehouse fire in Parkersburg has finally been extinguished.
Lubeck Fire Chief Mark Stewart, who served as the incident commander, made the declaration that was passed along to media by the state Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety.
The remains of the fire at the warehouse owned by International Export Import were extinguished about noon today.
Now a 36- to 48-hour cool-down phase has begun. Firefighters have stopped putting water on the site to check for flare-ups.
A consulting company specializing in hazmat situations, SPSI, remains on-scene to assist. Air quality monitoring continues as well.
School was out in Wood County all week. Plans called for school to reopen Monday.
The 420,000 square feet of property, which was storing recyclable plastics for a small business, caught fire early last Saturday morning and had been burning ever since, sending a plume of smoke billowing over the city and across the Ohio border.
On Thursday, The DEP issued an order to Intercontinental Export Import, Inc., demanding immediate information about what materials were stored on the property. DEP is also demanding to know how IEI plans to properly dispose of the material.