RICHMOND, Ind. — Thirty-two hours after a massive fire broke out at a Richmond facility housing plastics for recycling, firefighters were still working around the clock to put it out.
Smoke from the blaze is showing up on satellite images taken thousands of feet above the earth.
That smoke, investigators say, is toxic.
Thousands of people living within one-half mile of the fire have been evacuated. Others are sheltering in place in the city. Schools in Richmond will be closed again Thursday as the community works to stay safe as the fire is being extinguished.
Progress is being made. More than a day later, the area firefighters are working in to put out the fire has changed dramatically.
Instead of billowing black plumes of smoke shooting sky high, the smoke that's pouring out of the fire on Wednesday is thinner and lighter. Firefighters have been able to move in much closer one day in, knocking down buildings in the afternoon and evening as they work to put out hot spots still burning.
But they're not done yet.
"It'll make the community a little more relaxed when they're not seeing this huge black plume going throughout the city," said Richmond Fire Department Chief Tim Brown.
Brown and his crew of firefighters have been working around the clock to put out the massive blaze after getting the call at 2 p.m. Tuesday, following a plume of heavy smoke to the facility off F Street in town.
But the size of the recycling facility - and what's inside - is making it tough for them to reach parts of the fire to put out.
"It goes back in there quite a bit, we estimated 13.8, almost 14 acres worth of this facility and every bit of it was loaded with the plastic material," Brown said.
Plastic bundles tied together are piled high at the indoor and outdoor facility, fueling this fire and sending toxic chemicals sky high. Plastic bundles and burned pieces of plastic waste now are strewn around the area where firefighters are working.
Brown said they're keeping a close eye on the bundles, some of which hadn't burned Wednesday morning, but had sparked up in the afternoon, adding fuel to the fire.
"They're very flammable. They burn hot and they burn quickly," Brown said.
More than 24 hours in, progress is being made. Firefighters have contained the fire and are using heavy equipment to push back the plastic and debris so apparatus and firefighters can get in closer to spray down flames and put out hotspots.
"We're trying to get to those hotspots. There's one area we can't do anything with, the origin of the fire, of course," Brown said. "We want to get our investigators in there, the state investigators, ATF to be able to maybe collect some type of evidence or determine the origin and cause of the fire."
Putting out the fire, investigating what started it and figuring out just how serious this black smoke is to residents is work that's happening all at once.
"We still have IDEM here, still have EPA here, they're still doing air monitoring, water testing, so we're taking every precaution that we can but we're still methodically approaching the fire to put it out," Brown said.
Long days of work still lie ahead.
Brown said the fire department here has been switching its 25-person crews out every 3-4 hours. Now, they're working in volunteer firefighters and other departments that have offered to help.
In the days ahead, Brown said they'll keep working slowly, carefully to make sure they get this massive fire put out once and for all and get everyone here home safe.
"Every one of them, I treat them like family," Brown said. "They're all my brothers and sisters, so I want everybody to go home and go home safe to their family,"
Richmond Fire said they expect they'll be working here until at least Saturday morning. The fire likely won't burn that long, but Brown said hotspots may pop up that they'll need to put out quickly so they don't spread.
Once this fire is finally out, then the cleanup can begin.
Richmond leaders said they are tracking costs throughout the situation for possible future reimbursement or litigation.
Resources
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has a page that lists all of their updates on the Richmond fire.