NEW PARIS, Ohio — Some debris from a giant fire at a plastics recycling plant in Indiana contains asbestos, officials warned Thursday, as firefighters inched closer to fully dousing the blaze.
The fire, which has been burning since Tuesday afternoon, sent black smoke over Richmond and surrounding towns in eastern Indiana and western Ohio. Officials quickly warned that the smoke could contain cancer-causing toxins.
“I am happy to say that we have it 90% — maybe a little bit more — out, and we’re hoping to have the fire close to 98%, 99% out sometime this evening, or if not by tomorrow morning,” Richmond Fire Chief Tim Brown said Thursday at a news conference.
Crews with bulldozers and backhoes have been getting deeper into the plastics facility, which contained large amounts of shredded and bulk recycled plastic, according to city officials.
Residents in the area were instructed to steer clear of anything that’s landing in residential yards, given that debris recovered 1.5 miles from the fire was found to contain asbestos, according to Jason Sewell, an on-scene coordinator for the Environmental Protection Agency.
“Probably the worst thing you can do if you have debris in your yard … would be to mow and break up that material,” Sewell said, since that would raise the risk of inhaling it.
“Don’t disturb the debris for now. Avoid mowing until we come out with more instructions on outdoor cleanup,” Sewell added.
Asbestos is a known carcinogen. Exposure can cause various forms of mesothelioma — a cancer of the membranes lining the chest and abdomen — as well as lung and ovarian cancer.
The EPA said test results from air samples would likely be known by Friday morning.
The fire has been sending snow-like debris into nearby towns, residents said.
“Just started falling like snow — it was just floating through the air and we had a bunch of it land in the yard,” said Elizabeth Castellanos, who lives in New Paris, Ohio. “We didn’t actually know what it was…
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