August 25, 1999
U.S. EPA says tire fire 60% covered
By Malinda Ruble
Staff Writer
SYCAMORE -- After three days of battling one of the largest tire fires in the state, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials said the fire is now more than 60 percent covered with clay and sand.
"Apparently we have good news all of the way around. The fire is 60 percent covered -- that's double of what we had yesterday at this time,'' said Stuart Hill, community involvement coordinator with the U.S. EPA.
But this doesn't mean the fire is out.
"The 24-hour operation is continuing until such time the fire is sufficiently covered,'' Hill said.
With heavy rains flooding the streets of Sycamore Tuesday afternoon, EPA officials said the rain did not pose a threat to the situation.
"We would have been concerned if we got a lot of rain in a short period. It could be a potential problem where we would have to deal with the rain going into Sycamore Creek,'' said Jeff Stears, spokesman for the Ohio EPA.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Kirby site had received little rain.
"We suspended operation for an hour and 15 minutes last night due to lightning. But we've developed plans if we get heavier rain falls. Some of the things we can do is increase diking and increase engineering controls in the river. We are actively building up dikes around the contaminant pits on scene. If the water were to release from the site, we have different points established to control the flow,'' said Mark Durno, on-scene coordinator for the US EPA.
One EPA spokeswoman said the rain could have been more detrimental to the scene a few days ago.
"It would have been worse to get the rain when we first started because we hadn't been on site to set up contingency plans. The fire is under control. We're much better prepared for the rain now than two days ago,'' she said.
However, the price tag for the cleanup project continues to climb.
"We've spent $500,000 so far. We're spending a little more than $100,000 a day. If we get the fire out in a couple of days, we should only have a couple more days of $100,000 a day,'' Durno said.
Once the fire is completely covered, Durno said the scene will be assessed to determine the next step of action.
"But we still want to move more tires out after the emergency is over,'' Stears said.
The fire remains under investigation. However, Wyandot County Sheriff Mike Hetzel said the fire is suspicious.
"We're no closer to finding a cause. A cause might be very tough because the evidence might have been destroyed,'' he said.
Some firefighters and security guards have been interviewed.
"Right now we have no leads. Everybody will have to make that assumption that it had to be intentionally set. I didn't see any lightning that night and I know it wasn't spontaneous combustion,'' Hetzel said.