On Tuesday morning, one can hardly tell there was a potent and dangerous industrial fire at the site of PBTT Corp on Vann Road in Warrick County.
Cleanup has begun, and various agencies are still working in tandem on several fronts (see below).
But during the fire both state and federal agencies began monitoring the air quality on-site, which was dangerous at the time for first responders.
University of Southern Indiana (USI) Chemistry Professor Mark Krahling said it doesn’t take long for the particulates created by the fire to clear.
“And so after the fire is over, the air quality actually recovers really quickly,” he said. “And so the second part of this is actually going to be dealing with all this ashes that's around and how that's going to impact neighborhoods. And that's a sort of a completely different problem.”
Those ashes can act like lye, and burn once they touch skin or are inhaled.
“If you've touched ash and you've got like a burning sensation and your fingers, yes, then you should go see a doctor — you want to make sure you take care of that as quickly as you can.”
Krahling said the smaller, less harmful ashes will travel the furthest, but the area touched by the ash will be widespread.
He said the best scenario would be a good heavy rain to wash the ash away.
The US Environmental Protection Agency is asking residents to report white ash if spotted, at this website.
More on agencies handling the site
The fire is currently under investigation by the State Fire Marshal’s office.
The site is back under control of the owners, who are in cooperation with the various agencies for a cleanup plan.
These organizations also released a joint update on Monday afternoon.
Warrick County Emergency Management Agency is working with key organizations including Indiana Homeland Security, the EPA and the local health department, to assess and figure out what resources the county can get for recovery.
The EPA is working on an ash debris assessment and cleanup plan and leading off-site debris cleanup efforts.
According to the IDEM, no drinking water supplies have been impacted by the fire.
Everyone who receives drinking water from The Evansville Water and Sewer Utility (EWSU) gets their water from the Ohio River, which is not connected with Vann Park Pond, which was contaminated by Saturday’s industrial fire.
Unfortunately fish-die-off is expected at Vann Park Pond, which is near the industrial fire which contained dangerous chemicals.
However at least for now it seems anyone who gets their water from the EWSU is safe.
The Utility is monitoring for unsafe PH levels, and peaks that would indicate contamination. So far everything is within the normal range — a PH level of around 8.
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