The Inter Royal Site was the location of a large (over 1,000,000 square feet) abandoned mill structure located in the center of Plainfield, Connecticut. Originally constructed as a textile mill in approximately 1906, Inter Royal manufactured office and hospital furniture from the mid-1950s until 1985. Since that time, the Site has been abandoned, except for a plastic recycling operation in a portion of the building in 1991/1992.
On Tuesday, April 26, 2005 a fire destroyed the northern third of the mill, which was comprised primarily of a three-story brick and timber structure. Other ancillary structures in this northern portion include the boiler room, smokestack, and water tower. The southern 2/3 of the Site includes a sprawling single-story mill structure, which was not damaged by the fire but is in an advanced state of decay and was partially demolished approximately five years ago. See previous polreps for additional background information.
As a result of the fire, potentially-asbestos-contaminated fire debris was deposited over an area measuring approximately five miles long by one-half mile wide. Based on funding limitations and the magnitude of the problem, DEP requested that EPA take over the cleanup of this debris field. Based on this request, discussions with local, state, and federal health agencies, and the presence of friable asbestos-containing material on residential properties, EPA’s Superfund Removal Program initiated an emergency removal action on the morning of Thursday, 28 April 2005.
EPA continues to direct emergency response activities utilizing the Incident Command System with the support of DEP and local authorities. The incident command post has been largely relocated to a meeting room in the Plainfield Town Hall. However, the mobile command post is still being used to provide critical workstations and field communications capabilities.
Cleanup activities in the debris field area are now complete as of May 12, 2005. Crews cleaned up debris on 681 affected residential properties as well as several agricultural properties. Crews also cleaned up debris from active railroad lines and fields and open spaces accessible to the public.
The ERRS contractor began demolishing the unstable, fire-damaged portion of the mill on May 16, 2005, so that sampling crews will be able safely enter the building footprint area. These demolition activities are ongoing and are expected to be completed during the week of May 23, 2005.
Once the demolition activities completed, the START contractor (with heavy equipment support provided by the ERRS contractor) will conduct sampling activities to determine whether contaminated debris, ash, and/or firefighting water may be present within the footprint of the former structure.
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