The site is former large scale fresh-meat slaughter and packing house operation sitting on 37.9 acres which operated from 1897 to 1997. The facility includes the remains of a 1,000,000 square foot meat packing plant building, cooling tower, livestock pens, coal silo, and guard house. The current owner of the Site is Congress Oil LLC.
In June 2010, Congress Oil had begun demolition activity, including scrapping metal, at the former Emge plant building. Scrapping involved the use of metal-cutting torches. At 3 am on June 19, 2010, the Fort Branch Fire Department responded to a fire in the Emge plant building. With the assistance of the U.S. EPA and because of difficulty in extinguishing the fire in the cork insulation found at the plant, the Fire Department was unable to completely extinguish the fire until June 26, 2010. The fire was later attributed to the scrapping activity in the plant building. In the aftermath of the fire, large piles of rubble and debris contaminated with asbestos were left on the Site. On June 27, 2010, a cloud of anhydrous ammonia was released from one of the cooling lines in the building. In the summer of 2010, scrapping and demolition activity resumed, creating additional asbestos containing material (ACM) in rubble and debris.
