Press Release: Fire at Clean Harbors hazardous waste disposal site released unknown chemicals into the air
/For immediate release: February 17, 2023
Fire at Clean Harbors hazardous waste disposal site released unknown chemicals into the air
Town officials left many residents uninformed, dismissed air quality concerns, and illustrated need for comprehensive emergency evacuation planning
Braintree, MA - On the evening of Thursday, February 16, a two-alarm fire at Clean Harbors hazardous waste facility was reported around 10:30 PM. Clean Harbors is located within a 1-mile radius of the compressor station, in the Fore River Basin. Local residents reported black smoke in the area. Dozens of firefighters were called to the scene around 11 PM.
The Town of Braintree posted an alert on Facebook, advising residents to stay inside, but they did not send a direct alert to residents via a reverse 911. The Town of Weymouth and City of Quincy also did not send direct alerts to residents, despite the close proximity to the fire. Residents in Weymouth who subscribed to the Town’s “CodeRED Emergency Notification System”, said they did not receive any messages. Air pollution does not adhere to town boundaries -- residents of neighboring towns should have been alerted of this event so that they could take the proper precautions (i.e. keeping windows closed or evacuating if necessary).
At approximately 11:00 PM, Channel 7 news reported that 3 tractor trailers at the Clean Harbors hazardous waste site were on fire. One of which was “burnt to essentially a shell”. It is not known at this time what chemicals were in the trailers. And therefore, it is not known what toxins the community has been exposed to.
As firefighters attempted to put out the fire, they reported having trouble finding hydrants and multiple times stated that there was a “lack of water pressure”. These concerns were heard on a police scanner over a public channel as the event was unfolding throughout the night into the early hours of February 17. The Town of Braintree released a statement around 1 AM that the fire had been extinguished.
Though details of the fire are still unknown, including information on what chemicals were burned and subsequently released into the atmosphere, it is apparent that there is lack of preparation for emergency events in the Fore River Basin. For nine years, FRRACS has urged local and state officials to prepare a comprehensive evacuation plan for residents of the Fore River Basin, in the event of an emergency occurring at any one of the industrial facilities in the area, including the compressor station and Clean Harbors. Our concerns have not been taken seriously. It is unsettling that residents of neighboring towns were not informed, that firefighters could not find workable fire hydrants and reported a “lack of water pressure”, and that the impact to air quality has been dismissed. Around 1 AM, a reading from a PM2.5 air quality monitor in a nearby neighborhood, reported air quality at a level in which “members of sensitive groups may experience health effects with 24 hours of exposure.” (https://map.purpleair.com/1/mAQI/a10/p604800/cC0#11.9/42.2611/-70.98553). See photo.
The Towns of Weymouth and Braintree and City of Quincy need to prepare comprehensive evacuation plans and provide public education on what to do in an emergency.
In addition to the lack of preparation, we are concerned that toxic chemicals were released into the Fore River. We are also concerned about the amount of pollution that was released, as we do not know what, or how much, was in the tractor trailers. We call on Clean Harbors to make the full list of chemicals in those containers publicly available.
We will continue to follow up on this matter and we will continue to advocate for the health and safety of the community.
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News reports:
https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/immediate-threat-resolved-after-blaze-tears-through-trailers-clean-harbors-site-braintree/YRYVATTXRVGUBP4VPDKU6BC7PM/
https://whdh.com/news/health-hazard-warning-lifted-after-fire-burns-through-braintree-clean-harbors-site/
https://whdh.com/news/large-fire-burns-in-braintree-industrial-park/