Todd R. McAdam/managing editor
Little but sheet metal remains of a storage building that burned Wednesday night at Suit-Kote’s facility on Route 11 in Cortlandville. The flames were so hot that paint was scorched off nearby storage tanks.
A light rain fell Thursday on the remains of a storage building at Suit-Kote Corp. on Route 11 in Cortlandville.
The building, consumed in a fire Wednesday night, was little more than a bit of warped sheet metal and a couple of pilings. Nearby, the green paint had burned off storage tanks, leaving bare metal to the gray sky.
Sixteen hours earlier, firefighters from Cortlandville, Cortland, Ithaca and the Tompkins County Regional Airport swarmed the scene to douse a fire in a building used to store plastic pellets. A state Office of Fire Prevention and Control hazardous materials team, foam task force and fire investigators responded, too, as did the Cortland County Department of Emergency Response and Communications, Cortland County Sheriff’s Department, New York State Police, state DEC-Spill Response and state Department of Emergency Management.
Smoke poured from the facility, spreading an acrid smell from Polkville to the city of Cortland’s east side. Spectators said they could see smoke as much as 4 miles away.
The fire is not believed to have posed any threat to the community or environment, emergency services officials said Thursday. No injuries were reported. The state Office of Fire Prevention and Control is investigating.
Mike TenKate, deputy chief of operations for City of Cortland Fire Department, said the department’s hazardous material team, which serves the entire county, used all of its 150 gallons of foam and firefighters from Tompkins County Airport used 300 gallons to fight the fire.
The foam is 3% of the solution sprayed on the fire, meaning about 11,600 gallons of liquid containing foam was used to contain and extinguish the fire.
Firefighters were at first worried about what material might be burning, said TenKate, who noted nearby storage tanks contain asphalt, a component of which is oil, which would have posed health and environmental risks. But the fears were unfounded, he said.
“We were concerned because of the amount of smoke that there was a tank breach or a breach of one of the asphalt pipes,” TenKate said.
No residences were nearby that would have been affected by the smoke during the fire, he said.
TenKate said he does not recall being called to a fire at the Suit-Kote facility in past years.
The material that burned was synthetic plastic beads, the size of BBs, said Cortlandville Deputy Fire Chief Mike Mike Biviano.
The material is a binding agent in asphalt, keeping it from cracking during expansion and contraction caused by temperature changes.
“They are synthetic but there were no air-quality hazards,” Biviano said. “There was no public health hazard, no groundwater (threat), no issues at all.”
Containment pits around nearby storage tanks at the Suit-Kote facility collected water sprayed on the fire, he said.
No cause of the fire was released by state investigators as of Thursday, said Biviano, who noted probes typically take days, sometimes weeks, to complete.
“DEC’s Spill Response Unit responded to the Feb. 16 fire at Suit-Kote and conducted an investigation,” reads a statement Thursday from the agency. “There was no off-site release of firefighting water or foam and no impacts noted during a visual inspection of the Tioughnioga River.”
Michael Nolan, president of Suit-Kote, confirmed that the latex material that burned is not hazardous.
The company is still assessing the damage, which was limited to the A-frame storage building and some mechanical equipment, he said.
The facility where the fire occurred, one of several in the area owned by the company, is used to store and process liquid asphalt cement, which is the same material used on roads, Nolan said.
“It’s non-hazardous material,” he said.
“We would like to express our appreciation and gratitude to the first responders across multiple local departments and agencies for their swift and professional management of this fire which was extinguished quickly, effectively and safely. There were no injuries related to this incident, which is a testament to our local fire and rescue and the safety systems and protocols in place in our facilities,” the company stated.
Managing Editor Todd R. McAdam contributed to this report.
February 19, 2022 at 12:01AM
https://cortlandstandard.net/2022/02/18/fire-poses-little-eco-concern/
Fire poses little eco concern – Cortland Standard - cortlandstandard.net
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