By Tia Lyons
Staff Writer
A hazardous waste storage building and several containers were reportedly damaged in a small fire that occurred Friday morning at Clean Harbors, 309 American Road.
Streets were temporarily blocked in the area as Clean Harbors’ on-site emergency response team and the El Dorado Fire Department worked to extinguish the fire.
The blaze was largely contained by the fire suppression system in the storage facility, officials from the company and the fire department said.
Fire Chief Chad Mosby and Dan Roblee, general manager of Clean Harbors, said there were no injuries.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Clean Harbors disposes hazardous waste materials.
Equipment that firefighters used to monitor air quality did not detect any contaminants or display any negative readings onsite or around the perimeter of the plant, Mosby said.
Mosby and Roblee said run-off from the water that was used in the process of putting out the fire was contained to the immediate area of the building where the fire occurred.
Roblee said he received word about the fire at approximately 10 a.m., and the fire department was immediately called to the scene to assist.
El Dorado police and the Union County Sheriff’s Office also worked to help divert traffic while the area of American Road and Short East Hillsboro was closed.
Mosby said fire crews were on the scene for about two hours, and while they applied some direct water pressure, the facility’s fire suppression and containment system did most of the work.
“The elements they had in place at the plant — the sprinklers, the (automatic) fire doors — worked flawlessly today,” Mosby said.
Added Roblee, “The system worked exactly as it was engineered to work. The engineers did top-notch job making sure those buildings are safe.”
Roblee said Clean Harbors is still assessing damage and trying to determine what caused the fire.
“We’re in cleanup mode. There was some damage to the building and some of the (storage) drums,” he said. “We’re still doing an investigation right now.”
He explained that the storage building housed reactive materials, including laboratory and swimming pool chemicals, but he did not know if reactions from either those chemicals served as the ignition source.
Roblee lauded Clean Harbors’ emergency response team and other employees, the city’s fire department and area law enforcement officers for the work they did to assist with the emergency situation.
Tia Lyons may be contacted at 870-862-6611 or by email at [email protected].