The site is the location of the Eastern Plating Company, which anodized metal parts for customers. The facility caught fire on the evening of Sunday, April 22, 2012. The part of the building containing the plating operation was completely destroyed. A storage area was significantly damaged. The facility had over twenty vats containing sulfuric acid, chromic acid, nitric acid, and various rinse liquids. There were approximately 1,300 gallons of sulfuric acid and 2,000 gallons of chromic acids in the building. Since these vats were open topped and large volumes of water were put on the building to put out the fire, the acids in the vats were diluted and washed out of the building. The Fire Department continued to flush both alleys alongside the building for about 24 hours after the fire to dilute and flush the acid. The flow from the building traveled to storm drains which emptied into the harbor. Testing at the outfall revealed that the discharge was approximately neutral in pH.
