By Toby Coleman
The News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina)
Copyright 2006 The News and Observer
APEX, N.C. — Regulators halted cleanup of a burnt-out hazardous waste warehouse Wednesday after a barrel burst into flames.
State records show that EQ Industrial Services knew the barrel of sodium metal could be a problem. But by noon Wednesday, the cleanup’s second day, the drum had not been protected. Regulators say rainwater seeped in, causing a reaction that produced a flash and billowing white smoke.
No one was hurt, and air monitors found no toxins floating around. But the smoke and flames created more worry in a town reeling from the warehouse’s explosion Oct. 5. Roads nearby were closed for a few hours, and four businesses evacuated.
N.C. Division of Waste Management regulators would not let EQ resume cleanup until it filed a report explaining how it will prevent more reactions. EQ looks “forward to restarting the cleanup in a safe and efficient manner,” spokesman Robert Doyle said.
In a cleanup plan, EQ said the site had at least 13 “containers of concern,” including the barrel of “water reactive” sodium. Doyle said workers had not found the worrisome containers among the roughly 500 drums there.
Rick Hind of the Greenpeace Toxics Campaign said the accident shows the site is out of control. “The fire clearly scrambled everything on-site there,” he said.