Wood County is under a state of emergency as an industrial fire continues to burn at a warehouse just outside Parkersburg city limits. Gov. Jim Justice joined state and county officials to discuss ongoing efforts to put the fire out and to address residents’ health concerns.
Still, a lot of questions remain about the incident and how it might affect residents of the surrounding area. Here’s what we know (and what we don’t know):
The key is getting the fire out. But even that is a question.
Weather patterns continue to be cooperative in terms of response efforts. Heavy rains in and around Parkersburg on Monday knocked a thick plume of smoke and concentrated it closer to the ground. Tuesday morning’s weather brought some relief. As rain moved out, the smoke thinned and headed upward — away from the scene of the fire.
Even with a decrease in the plume’s size and the dissipation of the smell of burnt plastic, incident commander Mark Stewart, of the Lubeck Volunteer Fire Department said there is still no timeline for extinguishing the fire.
With the fire still burning, private firefighting and hazmat firm Specialized Professional Services, Inc. of Washington, Pennsylvania, remains at the scene with local responders.
Officials are still not sure what was in the building when the fire started.
County Commissioner Blair Couch said that a warehouse owner handed Stewart a three-ring binder of material safety data sheets. Couch and other officials said that information is outdated and, thus, may not accurately reflect the materials stored at the facility as of Saturday, when the fire began.
“We’re hoping for the property owner to complete his evaluation. He said his paper work was in the building that is no longer there. Now he’s going through e-mails to get a bill of lading — trying to figure out what they had shipped out,” said Couch. “We have heard from certain industry insiders that have said, ‘We know that’s not there because we never sold them that.'”
Larry Messina of the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety also clarified that state and county officials are trying to obtain recent bills of lading that would show materials that have shipped to and from the facility. He said the owners have told state and county officials they are trying to track down those documents electronically via archived email.
“It’s going to be a little bit of time,” Couch said. “I know there’s just so many people with concerns, me not the least of them.”
So far, officials say air testing shows no signs of health hazards.
Gov. Jim Justice said at a Tuesday morning news conference that air-quality testing from the West Virginia Department of Environmental shows that 150 air samples are below a 1,000 parts per million threshold when tested for carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, chlorine and ammonium.
