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Industrial fire in Detroit seen for miles
A toxic mess of oil and sludge now awaits those prepared to clean up the remnants of an industrial fire that caught Monday morning in Detroit.
DETROIT (FOX 2) - Plumes of black smoke and towering flames greeted east Detroit residents Monday morning after a facility that recycles oil and waste caught fire.
It took hours to put out and one firefighter was injured in the process.
Big picture view:
A massive chemical fire on Detroit's east side sent towering flames into the sky and a plume of smoke that could be seen for miles.
Igniting at a facility that recycles oil and treats waste, the toxic mess greeted local residents Monday morning who live near the Aevitas Specialty Services building on Lycaste Street.
Just north of Belle Isle, it took hours for Detroit fire crews to get the massive blaze under control.
With the flames now doused, a much-larger clean-up operation is now necessary amid concerns of lingering air quality problems and an oil-water mixture pooling around the business.
The plume of black smoke from the industrial fire in Detroit.
Dig deeper:
Getting an alert after 5 a.m. on Monday, DFD deputy chief Michael Borg said the department became aware of the fire after an alert from an employee.
"We had a driver that works for the company, (he) was offloading some product. He noticed stream or fire coming from one of the tanks," Borg said.
Because the tanks that caught fire held 100,000 gallons of used oil, putting the blaze out took hours. While there were no injures from employees at the facility, one firefighter did get injured.
"We had one firefighter who injured his back," said Borg.
What's next:
Crews will spend the next several weeks assessing the scene and cleaning up the toxic site.
That means monitoring the air for any pollutants in the surrounding atmosphere and offloading the products still on-site.
"That’s all the oil - the water-oil mix that we have in the street, get all that offloading cleaned up and then you know just do the EPA concerns inside the property that’s it," said Borg.
The Source: Previous reporting and an interview with the Detroit Fire Department was used for this story.