The Queen City Barrel Emergency Response Site consists of a 400,000-square-foot warehouse building at 809 Evans Street in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, commonly referred to as the “Lawson Building.” E. Paul Corporation owns the Lawson Building. The Site is bordered to the north by Boston Street, to the east by Evans Street, to the south by Whateley Street, and the west by Woodrow Street. Queen City Barrel Company (QCB) owns a container reconditioning facility that adjoins the Lawson Building to the north and west. Since at least 1998, QCB has leased the Lawson Building and used it for drum and container storage, fiber drum reconditioning, and equipment and maintenance storage. Since at least 1998, a portion of the Lawson Building has also been leased to a wooden pallet reconditioner, C&H Pallet Company.
On August 19, 2004 at approximately 6:30 p.m., a fire ignited in the Lawson Building. At the time of the fire, the warehouse contained thousands of fiber, plastic, and metal drums and other containers. The fire engulfed the building and blanketed the heavily industrial area west of Interstate 75 in heavy smoke. Explosions were heard every few minutes from inside the building, which began to collapse at 9:20 p.m. on August 19, 2004. More than 20 Cincinnati-area fire departments responded to the fire. By August 20, 2004, 10 fire companies remained on-site to contain the fire.
On August 19-20, 2004, at the request of the Cincinnati Health Department, the U.S. EPA performed downwind air monitoring east of the fire. U.S. EPA air monitoring teams were part of the Cincinnati Chemical Air Monitoring (CAM) team deployed to the fire to determine the extent of airborne contaminants released during the fire. Based on the CAM Team monitoring, the Cincinnati Health Department recommended “shelter in place” for downwind residents on August 19, 2004. CAM Team air samples were laboratory analyzed and detected the following chemicals in the downwind plume: acetone, 2-butanone (methyl ethyl ketone), benzene, toluene, and xylene.
On August 20, 2004, at the request of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms (ATF) and the Cincinnati Fire Department (CFD), the U.S. EPA conducted air sampling on Whateley Street immediately adjacent to the Lawson Building where the fire was smoldering. Two summa canister samples were collected and sent to a local laboratory for analysis. The following chemicals were detected in the Whateley Street smoke plume: acetone, 2-butanone (methyl ethyl ketone), tetrahydrofuran, heptane, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, styrene, and xylene. During the August 20, 2004, U.S. EPA sampling investigation, the U.S. EPA’s On Scene Coordinator (OSC) Steven Renninger observed numerous drums (>1,000) in areas inside and outside of the Lawson Building. Drums were noted to be burned, partially burned, and in varying stages of deterioration due to the fire, which was still smoldering. OSC Renninger observed drums within the fire area, as well as in other parts of the building that were immediately adjacent to the fire areas. Drums were stacked three high in several areas of the building’s upper level, as observed from Evans and Whateley Streets.
On August 20, 2004, the Cincinnati Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) collected three samples from water run-off down gradient of the fire including curb, puddled water and combined sewer locations. The water samples were laboratory analyzed and detected the following chemicals: 2-propanone, 2-butanone, benzene, tricholoroethene, and toluene.
On August 20, 2004, the City of Cincinnati, Department of Buildings and Inspections (B&I) issued a notice of violation and order pursuant to the Cincinnati Building Code. The City ordered demolition of the Lawson Building located at 809 Evans Street, and declared it to be a public nuisance.
On August 24, 2004, the U.S. EPA sampled two drums located adjacent to the fire area. The drums were located in Whateley Street as a result of the fire at 809 Evans Street. One of the drums was in deteriorated condition (bulging) at the time of sampling. Laboratory results indicated that the sample denoted as QCB1 was corrosive with a pH=2.2.
During the week of August 30th, QCB hired a demolition firm and an environmental consulting firm to begin removing the drums from the drum storage building as the building is being demolished.
As of March 25, 2005, approximately 28,436 empty drums have been removed from the drum storage building. A total of 12,971 drums containing liquid and solid wastes were staged, sampled, and hazard categorized for off-site disposal.
The removal action including the removal and off-site disposal of drums from the Lawson Building was completed on April 8, 2005. Lawson Building demolition will continue thru June 2005 under a City of Cincinnati demolition order.
