On 1 May 2012 MASS DEP requested EPA assistance at a fire in a mixed tenant manufacturing use mill at the above address. The fire began at about 6 am and burned for the remainder of the day. Various hazardous substances such as solvents, paints, oil, etc are believed to be involved in the fire.
OSC Jakabhazy arrived at the incident around 1030 and integrated into a unified command with Mass DEP, Massachusetts Fire Service Special OPs Unit, and Seekonk Fire and HazMat. OSC Banks mobilized to the incident in a support role from a nearby Site.
EPA mission is to provide environmental support consisting of air monitoring and environmental sampling. Due to an all-day rain and the continued burning of the building, EPA environmental support was limited to the following:
1) External air monitoring using Multi RAEs (standard configuration and HCN monitor)
2) Draeger tube sampling inside of the building.
3) Collection of fire fighting water runoff heading into the Ten Mile River for quick turnaround full scan analysis by NERL.
4) EPA could not deploy Data RAMs due to precipitation
In addition to the EPA response efforts, the Mass DEP Mobile Laboratory was on-scene conducting VOC analysis.
During the first day of the response, OSC Jakabhazy observed a sheen in Ten Mile River. EPA returned on the second day to conduct bulk asbestos sampling.
