The warehouse fire on Monday burned for hours through the morning. While fire itself is dangerous, the smoke and debris can also pose health and environmental risks.
With such a large fire, an impact to the environment is unavoidable, said Jim Durbin, an associate professor of geology in the Department of Geology Physics and Environmental Science at the University of Southern Indiana.
“This was a large enough fire in an old enough structure, with materials in it that are still trying to be determined what they were, what all the materials were that were involved in the fire …So you had wind blowing this stuff around like crazy.”
The warehouse was built in 1902, most recently housing Morton Warehousing.
Durbin said he’s almost certain carcinogens like asbestos were used in such an old building, not to mention plastics and cardboards that were also probably treated with chemicals. He says there’s a reason burning trash is illegal now.
“ … because it produces not only harmful particulate matter, but harmful gases that can get up into the atmosphere.”
Luckily, many people likely had their windows closed that evening due to the cool weather.
Durbin said anyone clearing up bits of debris that blew in from the fire should wear protective equipment like a KN95 mask, and even more protection for heavier cleanup.
Once the site of the warehouse fire cools enough for an investigation, the debris will eventually need to be moved and the site prepared for sale or another building.
All the visible rubble will have to be moved from the property.
“It's going to be expensive to do that,” Durbin said. “Because they're gonna have to take precautions to make sure that the workers aren't exposed to contaminants that could potentially harm them later on.”
He said the materials will have to be taken to a hazardous material landfill. And then comes the remediation process to make the site safe for the next occupants.
“And then you have to go back in and say, ‘Okay, wait a minute, the soils have elevated lead concentrations, these soils have elevated arsenic concentrations, these soils have elevated cobalt, or cesium,’ or whatever that it happens to be.”
If such materials exist, it will have to be safely removed before anyone can build there. He said the process will likely take many months.
