Sooty silver lining after Lockport tire fire

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Exhausted Lockport firefighters smiled as the cleaned up the department’s equipment after a large tire fire was extinguished Saturday morning. By Stephen Wallace

January 28, 2012

By Jim Krencik Niagara Gazette The Niagara Gazette Sat Jan 28, 2012, 10:37 PM EST

LOCKPORT — Firefighters were able to extinguish a large pile of burning rubber tires on Lockport’s west end after an all-night battle Saturday morning, but the cleanup has just begun at the site and at local homes sullied by soot.

The fire, contained to an open area at Liberty Tire Recycling, 490 Ohio St., spewed heat and thick black smoke over the city for hours before firefighters, with the help of Liberty’s heavy equipment, picked apart and extinguished the burning material piece-by-piece. Fire department personnel were still on the scene Saturday evening to prevent a re-ignition at the facility.

“Rubber requires copious amounts of water ... it just won’t go out,” Lockport Fire Department Capt. Patrick Brady said. “It’s been a long, laborious process.”

According to LFD Assistant Chief Joe Morello, the tire fire began between 2 and 2:30 p.m. Friday when a live industrial power line fell on the pile of rubber after partially melting following a short circuit.

An initial fire in a building at the facility was put out swiftly using carbon dioxide extinguishers. Tackling the tire fire was much harder. Morello said LFD and responders from the South Lockport Fire Co. and Rapids Fire Co. were slowed by a water supply problem that required running as much as 2,000 ft. of hose from nearby hydrants to the fire.

“We wouldn’t have been able to make the connections without the volunteer fire companies’ hoses,” Morello said.

Members of the platoon that was on duty Friday afternoon and around 25 more firefighters called in to the fire cycled between the site and the fire station throughout the evening and morning. The fire was officially declared over around noon.

Morello said no department equipment was heavily damaged in the fire response aside from being coated with greasy soot. Engine No. 7, the department’s newest truck, did have to be towed away from the site Saturday, but that was due to an engine issue.

The fire did not spread from the pile of tires, but the plume of smoke over the city left soot across the area. In the north east end of the city, retired street supervisor Dennis Brockman found that a cement deck in the backyard of his home was covered in oily soot after his white dogs came back into the house blackened after they were let out Saturday morning.

Mayor Mike Tucker said Saturday that with air quality tests taken during the fire revealing no dangers to residents, his concern has turned to the cleanup.

“The concern now is that people are waking up to find their houses and cars are covered in soot,” said Tucker, who has been recommending that residents hose down the sooty structures. “I think the company is liable.”

Tucker said the city intends to meet with representatives from Liberty this week to discuss their business, the fire and the need for the company to be in better compliance with city regulations. He added the company has always promptly responded to city concerns in the past.

“We’re going to investigate,” Tucker said. “We’re concerned by the fact that it’s the second fire since September ... it’s what the residents expect of us and it’s what we’ll do.”

The Sept. 7 fire gutted a building at the site, causing an estimated $2 to $3 million in damage. The Lockport Police Department have not yet issued a report on this weekend’s fire, but heavy damaged was visible at the site.

— additional reporting by Stephen Wallace.

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