At 0122 hours on May 4, 2009, an explosion and fire was reported at the Veolia Environmental Services Facility at 4301 Infirmary Rd, West Carrollton, Ohio. The NRC Report # is 904494. The facility is a hazardous waste treatment facility and conducts recycling and recovery of industrial wastes and mixed solvents. The facility consists of numerous buildings (drum storage and lab) and a hazardous waste tank farm. The tank farm contains 20-30 storage tanks containing volatile organic compounds. Numerous storage tanks, tank trucks, and storage building were involved in the fire.
At 0122 hours on May 4, 2009, an explosion and subsequent fire was reported at the Veolia Facility in West Carrollton, OH. West Carrollton Fire Department responded and evacuated a residential area immediately surrounding the facility.
At 0200 hours, OEPA requested U.S. EPA assistance for air monitoring. OEPA requested U.S. EPA to conduct air monitoring around the perimeter of the facility and in the down wind areas of West Carrollton, OH.
At 0430, U.S. EPA OSC Steve Renninger and OEPA Jim Crawford met with Veolia, State Fire Marshal, and Fire Dept personnel to discuss the response effort. Response agencies requested Veolia to mobilize equipment to the response effort to sample water run off, conduct vac truck operations, and containerize any collect run-off in frac tanks. EPA START prepared for air monitoring. A NARAC plume map was prepared by EPA and OEPA indicating an air plume in the SW direction. The facility fire was ongoing with a heavy black plume being emitted from the site. The initial air monitoring route (utilizing Rapid Assessment Tool or RAT) was established.
At 0730 hours, the fire continued to burn with heavy black smoke in a SW direction. EPA START completed the initial RAT air monitoring run downwind between fire and Germantown, OH (southwest of fire). EPA START also completed a RAT air monitoring run at a nearby neighborhood in Miamisburg which included an elementary school and a junior high school. The EPA-Environmental Response Team (ERT) Command Post arrived on-site with Area-Raes for additional monitoring support.
At 0830 hours, the fire continued to burn with heavy black smoke in a SW direction. EPA START initiated a second RAT air monitoring run in nearby residential areas to the southwest including Germantown, OH.
At 0945 hours, West Carrollton fire department reported that foaming operations in the facility had controlled the fire. U.S. EPA air monitoring was requested inside the facility to support fire operations. The ERT Area-Raes were established at six downwind locations for continuous monitoring and data logging. The second RAT air monitoring run was completed by EPA START.
At 1100 hours, the fire at the tank farm was approximately 95% contained. West Carrollton fire department continued to use foam/water applications to control and suppress any hot spots. The State Fire Marshal took control of site for the fire investigation. EPA conducted air monitoring inside the facility fence to support Fire Dept personnel working to contain hot spots.
At 1330 hours, the fire at the tank farm was 95%contained. U.S. EPA conducted downwind air monitoring utilizing six Area-Raes and RAT. The air monitoring was conducted between the incident location and Germantown, OH.
At 1430 hours, Aa briefing was conducted with U.S. EPA, OEPA, State Fire Marshal, West Carrollton fire Department, and Veolia representatives. U.S. EPA updated all parties on the air monitoring results from the three previous rounds of RAT data that was obtained. West Carrollton fire department announced it will cancel the evacuation surrounding the site, based on air monitoring results. Veolia representative informed response agencies that they would begin on-site cleanup once they receive access to the facility following fire investigation. The OEPA will monitor Veolia cleanup process. The priorities for the clean-up effort were determined to be containerizing free liquids and sampling downgradient surface water.
At 1500 hours, U.S. EPA directed START to complete one additional RAT air monitoring run. All air quality parameters monitored were found to be below the action levels established for the response effort.
At 1700 hours, U.S EPA, ERT, and START demobilized from the site.
No further action by US EPA.
Ohio EPA will monitor the clean-up effort for the remainder of the response.
U.S EPA mobilized the mobile command post from Erlanger, KY to monitor air quality at a fire located at hazardous waste tank farm facility. RAT and AreaRaes were deployed to monitor air quality for VOCs, Ammonia, Hydrogen Cyanide, and Chlorine.
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