By Brian Lockhart
The Connecticut Post
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Da’nay McBride strolled down Seaview Avenue recently, past the site of the September 2014 fire that destroyed a warehouse and threatened surrounding homes like hers.
Federal contractors are still busy hauling away the remnants of metal drums of chemicals that tenant Rowayton Trading company had stored there.
Some of those 55-gallon containers exploded the night of the fire, adding to the confusion that drew firefighters from Bridgeport, Fairfield and Stratford, as well as state and federal environmental agencies.
But once the smoke cleared, the firefighters were widely praised for keeping the fire contained to the warehouse, with no loss of life or surrounding homes.
“They did pretty good,” McBride said.
The warehouse’s owner, 25 Grant Street LLC, has a different view, as it seeks to recover millions of dollars in losses.
Grant Street — owned by Ronald and Leon Barnaby — has filed a notice of intent to sue the city. The company maintains Bridgeport’s emergency responders made the fire worse because they were in the dark about what was stored on site. The notice names the city’s fire chief, fire marshal, emergency management chief and all first responders acting in a supervisory capacity as targets of the coming suit.
The legal notice claims emergency responders should have had access to material safety data sheets (MSDS) filed with the city by Rowayton Trading that detailed what that company had stored on site.
“These (MSDS) sheets put the city on notice that many of the chemicals stored by 25 Grant St. LLC’s tenant in its warehouse required foam to suppress the fire from rapidly accelerating and/or specifically stated that a solid water stream, which the city utilized to combat the fire ... would scatter and spread the fire,” Grant Street’s legal documents state.
They claim there was an “inexcusable delay in obtaining MSDS information.”
“Instead of the Bridgeport Fire Department applying foam to the small fire existing at the site when they first arrived, they applied massive amounts of solid water streams that caused the fire to rapidly expand and consume the entire building,” claims Grant Street.
Or, in the words of Michael Stratton, Grant Street’s attorney, “They were basically pouring gasoline on fire.”
In interviews with Hearst Connecticut Media soon after the blaze, then-Mayor Bill Finch’s administration admitted to some initial confusion. City officials said there was a delay of several hours locating the file on Rowayton Trading Co. because of confusion over the warehouse’s address.
Firefighters arrived on the scene at 6:45 p.m., but did not have good data on whether there might be hazardous substances inside until a Rowayton Trading representative arrived about three hours later.
It was not until 11 p.m. that the city’s file on Rowayton Trading was brought to the scene, city officials said at that time.
Cost of cleanup
Stratton said his clients are looking to recoup millions of dollars in the costs for cleanup, rebuilding and lost lease revenue. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, which spent the winter testing the contents of the drums and removing them, the tab from the federal government alone will be over $2.3 million.
But, Stratton argued, there is another reason for pursuing litigation — forcing the city under new Mayor Joe Ganim to make internal changes for the safety of Bridgeport’s Bravest.
“This could have been four, five firefighters’ lives,” Stratton said. “You can’t have a system where folks go into a fire having no idea what they’re encountering. The firefighters who went into that scene were very brave people and they protected a lot of homes. Although their leadership did them wrong, they should be honored for their bravery.”
Fire Chief Brian Rooney called the legal action “frivolous” and “shameful.”
Neither Rooney, who was in charge at the time of the blaze, nor City Attorney R. Christopher Meyer wanted to discuss the pending litigation, but defended the fire department’s response.
“The Bridgeport Fire Department along with the Stratford and Fairfield fire departments fought this fire completely and efficiently,” Rooney said. “The firefighters put their lives on the line to save the entire neighborhood from going up in flames. I find any claims to the contrary are pertinently false, frivolous and shameful.”
Meyer said Grant Street’s allegations were “a whole bunch of speculation” that lacked merit.
“The fire department did a fantastic job saving a whole neighborhood,” Meyer said.
And, he added, the landlord and tenant were in a better position “to protect themselves both physically and financially from something like this.”
“Our firefighters stepped in and controlled a huge blaze, and did a good job,” Meyer said.
While that 2014 fire may dog the city for some time, the EPA is wrapping up its work on the site. An agency spokesman said its final day will be May 10.
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