Willimantic Waste Fire Continues To Burn, As Many As 200 Firefighters Battled Blaze

20-hour-old waste plant fire that sent up dense plumes of smoke, forcing school and road closures, and injuring a firefighter, continues to burn in Willimantic Monday morning and is expected to take days to put out.

The destructive fire has been declared under control, which means it is not expected to spread any further, Windham Fire Chief Marc Scrivener said. It will take days to completely extinguish, he said in a live feed of a press conference from NBC CT.

As of early Monday morning, the smoke was not considered to be toxic, although workers from the state Department of Energy & Environmental Protection are monitoring the air “to make sure the smoke that is leaving the scene is safe,” Scrivener said.

Up to 200 firefighters spent hours Sunday battling the blaze, which officials said went to four alarms. One firefighter had to be treated for exhaustion, and town schools, as well as Eastern Connecticut State University, have closed for the day.

The fire started around 10:13 a.m. in a 50-ton stockpile of wood, plaster and construction debris at Willimantic Waste Paper Co., a family-owned business that collects and processes garbage, recyclables and construction debris in Tolland, Hartford, Middlesex, Windham and New London counties, according to the company’s website. Officials said Monday morning that the company, which has 350 employees, will proceed with waste pickup as scheduled.

Nearly 12 fire departments are assisting with the fire, as are local agencies like the Windham Police Department and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, authorities said.

Officials said they do not believe anyone was in the building when the fire broke out, but two people — including the firefighter — were transported to Windham Hospital and assessed for exhaustion and light-headedness.

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Fire officials work a fire Sunday at a Willimantic Waste Paper Co. Inc. building adjacent to General Cable. (Mark Mirko / Hartford Courant)
Windham Town Manager Jim Rivers said the decision to close school was due to road closures and lingering smoke.

“Winds are moving north into the city at a lower speed so that means that smoke is going to linger,” Rivers said.

He said Sunday that officials were setting up for a “long-term operation.” Later, he said staff was also preparing to set up the town’s emergency operations center and possibly move people, specifically elderly, around the city. Rivers said officials have not decided on that yet, but it is something they want to be prepared for.

Eastern Connecticut State University posted online late Sunday that it would be closed Monday as a precaution. Students on campus are encouraged to go home but those who must remain on campus can stay at the Betty R. Tipton Room or the Student Center Cafe relief stations.

Windham Hospital officials released a statement late Sunday night saying that the hospital would continue to operate as usual.

“DEEP has determined there are no toxic chemicals present in the air at the hospital and there is no danger to patients or staff,” Hartford HealthCare spokesperson Steve Coates said in an email.

About 9:30 p.m. Sunday, Scrivener said operations have been scaled back due to safety concerns, but firefighters continue to operate three tower ladders and other heavy equipment to pull debris from the building.

“We are still putting water on the fire, we are still actively attempting to extinguish it,” Scrivener said. “We expect the fire to burn for the foreseeable future.”

Scrivener said the way the building is constructed caused some issues for firefighters, but the most significant issue the hundreds of firefighters have dealt with is smoke. The facility’s steel roof collapsed, meaning firefighters started attacking the flames from outside the building.

He said the 100,000-square-foot building was considered a “total loss” and that firefighters were working to keep fire away from the building’s office so records could be maintained.

West Main Street will remain closed and businesses in the area will probably be closed Monday morning, Matt Vertefeuille, Windham’s director of code enforcement, said.

Police said portions of routes 66 and 32, which were shut down Sunday, may remain closed into Monday morning.

Earlier Sunday, NBC Connecticut meteorologist Ryan Hanrahan reported that the black smoke that plumed into the sky had registered on the local TV station’s weather radar.

Vertefeuille said the waste plant was up to code, had a working sprinkler system and had been regularly inspected by city officials.

Area residents were urged by officials to conserve water and those living downwind from the fire were told to stay indoors to avoid breathing in the smoke.

Though the fire’s cause is being investigated by state fire marshals and remains uncertain, it was clear that the large waste-processing facility would not survive the inferno.

“The building will have to come down,” Vertefeuille said.

Willimantic Waste, now in its third generation of DeVivo family ownership, employs more than 160 people and operates three waste and recycling plants, according to the company’s website.

DEEP Emergency Supervisor Jeff Chandler said that testing was done to check for air toxicity. He said so far that testing has come back as “non-detect” but urges residents to stay inside and out of the smoke plume. He said his team has concluded that there was no asbestos in the building.

Ongoing testing of water runoff by a DEEP mobile lab team was still underway Sunday evening, but Chandler said there “is no visible oil sheen” at the Willimantic River, though the surface water is “greatly discolored.” He said he has contacted DEEP’s fisheries division and a representative is planning to visit the Willimantic River area Monday morning to look at impacts to wildlife.

Willimantic Fire
(Courtesy of the North Windham Fire Department)
Though the facility held relatively little garbage because the company was installing a new waste-processing machine, it contained about 50 tons of wood and plaster debris, Chandler said.

Some Willimantic residents who live near the burning building reported that brown water was coming out of taps. Chandler said this was because fire crews had plumbed the city’s water reserves, stirring sediments that normally lie undisturbed at the bottom of tanks and pipes, and that the discoloration was not dangerous to people’s health.

Courant Staff Writer Christine Dempsey contributed to this story.