He said fire officials will meet Monday morning to decide what their next steps will be at the site, where tons of recycled plastic stored for resale caught fire on Tuesday. The site is in Richmond, about 70 miles (115 kilometers) east of Indianapolis, near the Ohio border.
“Other than a hot spot, I consider it contained, under control and 99% out,” Brown told The Associated Press on Saturday afternoon.
Mayor Dave Snow said Friday that experts will meet Saturday to discuss air quality and other environmental issues related to the fire, all before moving an evacuation order for half a mile. (1 kilometer) radius of the site. At least 1,500 people live in the evacuation zone, although it is not known how many residents actually heeded the call to evacuate after the fire started Tuesday afternoon.
Christine Stinson, director of the Wayne County health department, said she will meet Saturday night with environmental experts to receive and discuss the latest air sampling results before making a recommendation to Brown whether the evacuation order can be lifted.
“Until I get the air monitoring samples we will not make any recommendations. We are turning to experts to help us advise the public,” he said. “We will make an announcement, one way or another to another.”
Stinson said the announcement is expected to be posted on a website the city has set up to provide residents with updates on the fire.
The US Environmental Protection Agency said hydrogen cyanide and benzene were found at the scene of the fire. EPA contractors plan to collect fire debris over the weekend that has landed near schools or in parks and private yards. At least one sample tested positive for asbestos, which can damage the lungs.
The cause of the fire is unknown. But it quickly turned into an inferno, destroying six dilapidated buildings holding recycled plastic and creating clouds of smoke so tall and dark that it cast a wide shadow over the city of 35,000. man.
The person who operates the storage site is under a court order in 2020 to clean up the site, which is empty and has been declared a serious fire hazard by inspectors. Richmond officials said they barred him from accepting more plastics while he works to get rid of more assets.