On Tuesday, August 9, about 9:15 PM, a large fire erupted at EQ Resource Recovery Inc., a licensed hazardous waste facility located at 36345 Van Born Road in Romulus, Michigan (Latitude 42.1581 & Longitude -83.2388). The Incident Command and the EPA Command Post are now located at the EQ Facility on Van Born Avenue. The facility has approximately thirty-nine (39) above-ground storage tanks ranging in sizes up to 15,000 gallons, of which twenty-nine (29) were impacted by the fire/explosion. In addition, a propylene glycol re-boiler and a drum pad with overhead canopy and approximately four-hundred (400) drums of various products were destroyed. Multiple fire departments with more than one-hundred (100) firefighters responded, with Incident Command (IC) established by the Romulus Fire Chief. Due to the intensity of the fire and the nature of the material involved, approximately twelve-hundred (1,200) homes, as well as GM and Ford Motor Company manufacturing facilities, were evacuated in the Cities of Romulus and Wayne. Shelters were set up at the two Romulus area high schools and a church hall.
Preliminary air samples collected in the fire smoke plume and analyzed by the EPA-ERT TAGA unit did not show elevated levels of hazardous materials, as determined by ATSDR, Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH), and the Wayne County Health Department (WCHD). In addition, six wipe samples were collected and sent to the EPA-ERT laboratory and analyzed for base/neutral/acid compounds (BNAs). After reviewing the analytical results from the first six wipe samples collected, the health agencies determined that the chemical concentrations were below health concern levels, and the residents were allowed to return to their homes. Continuous air monitoring of the perimeter of the facility and in the neighborhood downwind of the facility was conducted utilizing Area Raes, which were monitoring for VOCs, hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, oxygen and lower explosive limit. U.S. EPA START and REAC contractors continued investigating the residential area impacted by the plume by collecting four wipe samples from twenty residential properties, two from the upwind and downwind side facing the fire. The EPA-ERT laboratory analyzed the wipe forty samples (with additional samples for field and laboratory blanks) for BNAs and metals. Laboratory results were shared with the health agencies, which then made recommendations on how the residents could cleanup fire debris from their lawns and pools.
On September 12, 2005, EQ contractors worked on clearing debris from the drum pad and tank containment area. START continued oversight of the removal actions.
On September 13, 2005, EQ contractors continued to remove debris from the drum pad and began power washing the remaining concrete pads with water. START continued to provide oversight of the removal actions, and prepared materials for placement in the Wayne Public Library repository.
On September 14, 2005, EQ contractors completed the removal actions on-site. Power washing of the concrete pad was completed, and all damaged tanks were cut up and placed into rolloff boxes for disposal. START set up a data repository at the Wayne Public Library on this day.
No further actions are planned.
A letter and Factsheet are being developed to distributed to the residential property owners that had property sampled during the Emergency Response.
All Reports and Laboratory data will be sent to the Records Repositories that were established in Wayne and Romulus, Michigan.
As recommended in the Tree Damage Survey, the areas that exhibited stressed vegetation will be re-assessed in the Spring of 2006.
Records Repositories were established at the following locations:
Romulus Public Library
11121 Wayne Rd.
Romulus, MI
and
Wayne Public Library
3737 S. Wayne Rd.
Wayne, MI
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