On May 26th, 2009 at 00:47 hours, the Hawkins VFD and Hawkins Fire Marshalls Office responded to a tire fire at Foster & Son Scrap Tire Processor in Hawkins, Texas. A stockpile of approximately 100,000 tires burned to create a fire over an area of roughly 300 x 500 feet. The scene of the fire was a 5 acre area where Foster & Son staged an estimated 700,000 tires. The cause of the fire was undetermined at the time of initial action. Initial responders sucessfully contained the fire by moving staged tires to create a 200 foot open area buffer around the burning area.
The NRC activated EPA Region 6 Prevention and Response Branch at 0252 hours on May 26th, 2009. TCEQ, EPA, and the agencies' respective contractors arrived on scene between 0600 1000 hours. The Town of Hawkins issued a mandatory evacuation for all residents. Northwesterly winds at 8-10 mph allowed the smoke plume to rise several hundred feet before breaching the subject property perimeter. The plume was visible from roughly ten miles away between 0600 and 1100 hours. TCEQ, EPA, and Hawkins VFD entered into unified command at 0900.
TCEQ ER Contractors, Eagle Environmental and their subcontractors performed a sweep of the tire pile to check for hot spots. Track hoes were used to pull the debris apart and a heat gun temperature detector was used to measure the temperature of parts of the pile. No elevated temperatures were noted and no evidence of smoldering tires was detected with the heat gun.
Firefighting runoff water that had collected in the trench on the south side of the fire was to be vacuumed into frac tanks and stored on-site until off-site disposal can be arranged.
Disposal of the runoff water by TCEQ.
Decon and demobilization of equipment.
No further federal involvement. The TCEQ will follow up with any future removal actions.
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