26/09/05 Fire crew expect blaze to continue

FIREFIGHTERS have warned it will take days to put out a blaze at a wood recycling plant which has already been burning for a week.

Residents were forced to evacuate their homes this weekend due to the smoke coming from the fire at the plant near Swansea.

One person living nearby has been taken to hospital and seven people were given temporary accommodation.

The firm, Griffiths Pallets, at Hendy, said the wood combusted spontaneously. An investigation has begun.

Mid and Wales Fire Service said about 130 tonnes of wood chippings were smouldering, causing a large amount of smoke.

The firm said the pile was scrap wood, mostly pallets, which were due to be chipped.

Firefighters spent Friday night damping down the wood ahead of returning yesterday to begin digging down into the pile to reach the seat of the blaze.

A spokesman said the Fire rages near recycling center

Firefighters spent hours Friday night battling a raging wood-fueled fire at the Lackawanna County Recycling Center at 3400 Boulevard Ave. near the Scranton/Throop border.
The blaze broke out about 7:30 p.m. and gained strength into the night as it burned thousands of wood pallets and mulch, spewing 40-foot flames into the dark sky.

Assistant Fire Chief Paul Laskowski said the cause has not been determined and no buildings were imperiled. There were no injuries.

Firefighters were still at the scene early today dousing hotspots.

Chief Laskowski said the fire started in a 25-foot-high pallet pile that extended for several hundred yards.

Dozens of people stood on Boulevard Avenue and some camped out on top of a giant hill overlooking the center to watch the spectacular blaze, which sent smoke billowing into the night air. Citizens as far away as downtown Scranton complained about smoke from the blaze hours after the fire started.

Police officers ordered people away from the scene and blocked off traffic on Boulevard Avenue from Parker Street to Pancoast Street after the fire reached a utility pole.

Chief Laskowski said one pole caught fire, and PPL cut service to it.

PPL spokesman Richard Beasley said no customers went without electric service.

The recycling center’s operations were taken over in April by Lackawanna Recycling Inc., owned by Dunmore businessman Louis DeNaples. However, the Lackawanna County Solid Waste Management Authority still owns the center.

DeNaples spokesman Fran DeAndrea said late Friday that he did not know about the fire and declined to make Mr. DeNaples available for comment.

Chief Laskowski said two company employees were at the scene moving pallets away from the fire. The action was a great help to the firefighting efforts, he said.

Michael Hanuscik, the authority’s executive director, said said that the authority isn’t responsible for anything that goes on at the center.

“The operations that are going on since April have been under their (Lackawanna Recycling Center, Inc’s) control,” he said.

fire had become deep-seated and had worked its way underground. Officers on the scene said it would take "a number of days" to put out.

Carmarthenshire council has warned residents to stay indoors and keep their windows closed.

A spokesman for Griffiths Pallets said the fire had started due to the heat build up and pressure of the wood pile rather than arson.

"There's no foul play. It's come from underneath," he said.