RICHMOND, Ind. — Since the fire started at the plastic recycling facility in Richmond, fire crews have worked nonstop to extinguish the flames. They plan to remain on scene through the weekend to monitor hot spots.
"Even though the fire is under control, the site is still very dangerous," said Richmond Mayor Dave Snow on Friday. "We need people to stay away from this location. We have unstable structures, and we are still experiencing flareups on the site. Although it's under control, we don't want anyone to get hurt."
Officials don't want anyone to get hurt -- or sick.
"We've had people call and say they were walking around in the evacuation zone, and now they're vomiting" said Wayne County Health Department executive director Christine Stinson.
Saturday afternoon, health partners plan to meet to evaluate air and water samples, which will determine when the current evacuation order can end.
"We certainly are going to get that information out to the public of what are the risks if you have been exposed if you didn't honor that evacuation zone. " said Stinson.
"I understand our community is exhausted, but we will continue to push through and get through this emergency with he most accurate information that we can provide to the community," she said.
Leaders also addressed responsibility, and who is going to pay the bill for cleaning up after the fire. The city owns part of the property, but the mayor said there is no confusion about who is responsible.
"This was an individual's mess that was made. He was given an unsafe building order and a court order. That order was ignored, and here we are today," said Snow.
The mayor also said they're saving that fight over responsibility for the fire for another day, choosing instead to focus on the task at hand.
"Our firefighters are safe, our police officers are safe and we were able to evacuate citizen appropriately and keep them safe. That's our story right now," said Snow.
A story they hope will have a happy ending.
Resources
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has a page that lists all of their updates on the Richmond fire.
