Updated, 8:30 am.
IT WAS A BRIGHT AND HAPPY DAY in Adams County, Pennsylvania, Saturday. The Biglerville VFD was having their annual Christmas Tree Sale and Dennis Freed was playing the role of Santa Claus. Shortly after 2 pm an alarm was struck for a building fire – reported to be a garage – in the village of New Chester, so the house emptied out with Santa bringing the tanker.
The “garage” turned out to be a bio-diesel fuel production facility, a large building loaded with volatile chemicals, and when the units began arriving it was already well involved with fire and producing some ominous explosions within.
© Steve Roth
The blaze was literally too hot to handle, in other words beyond the immediate capability of the FD’s to knock it down right away. So the plan of attack was to contain it until it burned down enough to allow extinguishment in a safe manner. Complicating the operation was the strong concern for ground and stream contamination due to a measurable amount of chemical runoff in the water from the hose streams. (See Update below.) There were at least five known hazardous chemicals stored in the plant.
© Steve Roth
It was in a non-hydrant area, so a tanker shuttle was set up and Santa was kept busy for several hours.
© Steve Roth – 911 Photography
There were 16 fire departments working the fire which left the entire plant in ruins.
Fire photographer Steve Roth / 911 Fire Photography was on the scene throughout the operation and has posted an excellent 350+ images in a PHOTO GALLERY HERE.
911 Fire Photography member B. J. Felix also has a 210-image PHOTO GALLERY HERE.
Update:
It has been pointed out to us that in B. J. Felix’s photo gallery (linked above) his camera caught a “close call” moment when a firefighter started to fall off an aerial ladder. When the FF was evacuating the roof, the turntable operator inadvertanly nudged the ladder causing the FF to tumble out. Fortunately his buddy caught him before he went all the way. Go to Page 3 and view images 53 to 61.
Update, 8:30 am:
The Hanover Evening Sun is reporting:
No. 33 Chief Steve Rabine said the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency told them to call off fire-fighting efforts around 4 p.m. until DEP arrived. The concern was over the biodiesel that Soy Energy makes, and whether or not runoff into the nearby Conewago Creek could be dangerous.
So the firefighters sat by as the blaze lit the biodiesel on fire and continued to spread throughout the building. Throughout the afternoon and well into the night, small explosions kept occurring. Biodiesel, which is mostly composed of soybean oil, in addition to methylene and sodium methylate is flammable, but not believed to be toxic despite some of the chemicals in it.
Many firefighters said they were frustrated that they could no longer combat the flame – the job that they are trained to do. “It’s agitating,” said Heidelberg firefighter Kevin Crook. “It’s such a shame.”
Under the DEP’s advice, firefighters worked with an Adams County haz-mat team using sandbags to contain the chemicals from flowing into Conewago Creek, said Steve Heidecker, the public information officer for Adams County Office of Emergency Services. Once that was taken care of, firefighters resumed battling the fire. Toward the end of the night, they started using an excavator to break apart the wreckage to avoid any other parts from flaring up, Heidecker said.
Units are still on the scene this morning (Sunday).
Read the full STORY HERE.
B. J. Felix / 911 Fire Photography
Update, Monday morning: One of our readers, CS has provided the run card for this incident:
Adams County – Tyrone Twp – Soy Energy Plant
2259 Oxford Rd
Tyrone Twp
Box 25-3
Companies 25, 33, 11, 10, 7, 9, 6, 22, 26, 29
Spill 41
Cumberland Engine 241, Tanker 52 to Co. 7
Cumberland Engine 245, Tanker 25 to Co. 9
York Engine 65-1 to Co. 10
York Engine 6 to Co. 11
York Engine 66 to Co. 26
York Engine 3-1 to Co. 33 Sta. 2
York Engine 52-1 to Co. 29
York Engine 5-1 to Co. 26
York E9-2 went to 11.
Frederick ET64 to 6
Frederick E101 to 1
E201-33 Sta 1
E4-1 to 25
Also on FireGeezer…
- Close Call in Adams County – April 7, 2012
- Grain Dryer Fire Pulls Two Alarms – November 17, 2011
