BRAINTREE, MASS. (WHDH) - Officials in Braintree have defended their response to a fire Thursday night at the Clean Harbors transfer station off Hill Ave. in town, providing an update on Friday after crews worked to beat back flames.
Town officials asked people in the area to stay inside and keep their windows closed during the fire. But they only posted their message on social media instead of reaching out to people by phone.
“I wish I got notified,” area resident Rebecca Santos told 7NEWS.
Santos said she hadn’t heard about the situation.
Mayor Charles Kokoros came out to the fire scene. He later said that, by the time he was considering doing a robocall, air quality tests were showing nothing hazardous.
“At that point, we did not want to panic anyone because there wasn’t any evidence that there was any danger,” Braintree Mayor Charles Kokoros said of the decision to forgo a robocall.
Clean Harbors collects hazardous chemicals for proper disposal.
Officials said crews responded to the area after reports of fire around 10:30 p.m. The fire grew to a two-alarm situation, drawing support from several other area departments as well as the state Department of Environmental Protection. A six-member state hazardous materials team also responded.
The Coast Guard was on site, as well, working to ensure no hazardous materials leaked into the nearby Mill Cove.
Braintree Fire Chief James O’Brien said the firefighting effort was “unbelievable,” crediting crews for their work to contain the situation.
“What they endured last night is something that you may come across once or twice in your career,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien said eight storage trailers on site were filled with highly combustible materials. One of the trailers was fully involved in the fire when crews arrived on scene, leading flames to spread to a second trailer parked nearby.
O’Brien said firefighters couldn’t check signage to find out which specific chemicals were involved, though, since three out of five trailers had placards that were melted off when they arrived.
It took three hours to get flames under control, officials said.
Ultimately, while there were concerns that water could be contaminated, O’Brien said runoff was contained.
Clean Harbors issued a statement Friday thanking the Braintree Fire Department and other first responders “for their rapid and comprehensive response” to this fire.
Clean Harbors said it coordinated with crews on state and local officials “to ensure the safety of the local community.”
“We are grateful that no one was injured in this incident,” the company said.
Clean Harbors said it is “committed to protecting public health and the environment in Braintree,” adding that officials conducted air monitoring both at the Clean Harbors facility and in the surrounding area during and immediately after the fire, showing air quality was “within normal parameters.”
While Clean Harbors said the cause of the fire remains under investigation, the company said the fire was limited to trailers parked at its transfer station, which continued a mixture of paints, epoxy, oil filters, solvents and “similar waste materials.” Clean Harbors said it appeared that materials in one of the trailers self-reacted.
“We will continue working closely with the mayor’s office and state authorities as we complete our investigation,” Clean Harbors said.
Kokoros said he is also committed to staying in touch with Clean Harbors to make sure such a fire doesn’t happen again.
Clean-up work could be seen underway at the fire site, in the meantime, as of Friday.
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