Mayor blames Sims Metal for allowing Jersey City blaze to get out of control

By Anthony J. Machcinski/The Jersey Journal
August 20, 2013 at 6:18 PM

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop is blaming the metal recycling company for allowing a large fire at the Jersey City facility to get out of control by trying to extinguish it themselves before calling the fire department.

The fire started just before 11 p.m. last night at Sims Metal Management, a Jersey City metal recycling company that has been fined more than $190,000 by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration over the past three years.

The OSHA fines were not related to fires at the facility.

Last night's fire was first reported by the Coast Guard after a large pile of scrap metal at the Linden Avenue facility caught fire, sending towers of fire and smoke into the midnight sky, Jersey City fire spokesman Bob McHugh said.

"The troubling thing about this is that Sims tried to deal with (the fire) by themselves," Fulop told The Jersey Journal this morning. "We (city officials) don't know why. ... The end result is that by not reporting it, a fire like this gets out of control."

Sims Metal Management spokesman Sean Hughes says company staff immediately called 911.

?While this incident is still being investigated, we want to make clear that our information indicates Sims personnel promptly called 911, even as other employees were taking steps to respond to the fire, according to established protocols, by moving materials away from the fire, activating hoses and beginning to hose down the fire with water," Hughes said in a statement this afternoon.

"It is not the case that we tried to fight this fire on our own in lieu of calling 911," he added.

"Sims takes fires, and the means to prevent and respond to them, very seriously," Hughes said. "We work very closely with fire officials and other authorities to minimize and control incidents ... (We) have a very aggressive fire response system in place -- again working closely with authorities every step of the way."

While most of the body of the fire was knocked down early this morning, McHugh said that the fire was officially deemed under control around 11 a.m., more than 12 hours after the fire started.

McHugh said that firefighters, using heavy equipment provided by Sims, broke down the large pile of scrap and cooled off the metal in smaller piles.

No one was reported injured in the fire, not the first at the facility.

On Jan. 7, 2013, Jersey City firefighters put out a fire that had started in a "big pile of metal" outside the plant, officials said.

In September 2011, a crane at the facility caught fire, sending diesel fuel to the ground below, officials said.

On Oct. 17, 2010, a four-alarm blaze burned for several hours, sending smoke from the facility over across the harbor and into Brooklyn, officials said.

"The Sims facility ... is one of the largest metal recycling facilities in the country, and any outdoor industrial facility of this type may on occasion have fires. This facility is no exception."

Sims paid $5,250 in fines after a January inspection, said Lenore Uddyback-Fortson, a regional director at the U.S. Department of Labor. The fine stemmed from from workers being exposed to crushing hazards from rail cars, Uddyback-Fortson said.

In October 2010, the company was cited for six serious and two willful violations, Uddyback-Fortson said. The two willful violations were changed repeat violations and the case was formally settled, resulting in the company paying $188,500, Fortson said.

Hughes said the facility "is regularly inspected by the fire department and other governmental departments and quickly respond to their recommended corrective measures."

Hughes added, "we meet with governmental officials on a regular basis in support of these efforts. We also engage in our own regular facility inspections and implement corrective measures resulting from those inspections and we engage in regular training on fire prevention."

While the fire raged on across the inlet, some residents at the Port Liberte development didn't notice the fire until early this morning.

"I didn't hear the sirens or anything," said Cant Matsuda this morning while walking his golden retriever Cooper. " The smoke and the chemicals from the fire worry me, but the fire itself did not."

Port Liberte Cleaners worker John Chung added, "I've never seen anything like it. There is always noise and sometimes dust, but no fires that big. This is the biggest I've seen."

McHugh said that the fire and the smoke from the fire was not hazardous, however, several agencies from New York and New Jersey will be monitoring the air quality. McHugh added that the smoke has traveled into New York Harbor and not over nearby Liberty National Golf Course, which is hosting The Barclays PGA golf tournament this week.

Fulop said that the city doesn't consider Sims a bad neighbor, but "They need to be more conscious that something this doesn't get away from them."

Fulop added that this was the first time he was dealing with Sims as mayor, but "we're looking to take corrective measures with Sims that this doesn't happen again in the future."

Editor's note: This story has been edited to reflect updated information.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... rsey_city_mayor_says.html

The winds may have been blowing the thick black smoke from the fire at a Jersey City metal recycling plant over the Hudson River, but that didn't stop residents in the southern end of the city from worrying about the air quality over their homes.




"Whatever they can do to control it, they need to do," said George Adorno, 26, who has lived on nearby Princeton Avenue for three years and worries about possible toxic fumes from fires at the facility. "It's causing harm in the neighborhood."




Firefighters battled the blaze, that started just before 11 last night, for roughly 12 hours before getting it under control. The fire and the smoke did not carry any toxic materials, Jersey City fire spokesman Bob McHugh said.
Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop said Sims Metal employees tried to put out the fire themsleves and did not immediately report the blaze. He said the delay allowed the fire to rage out of control.

There have been a handful of incidents over the past three years, including one in which the facility was shut down on May 26, 2011 when 17 workers experienced eye, nose, and throat irritation. It is believed that in the processing of crushing some materials, some sort of pepper spray was released into the air.

Elyse Rowland, who also lives near Sims, is also upset about the fire and Sims' recent history, which includes more than $190,000 in fines meted out by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

"That's pretty scary to think about," Rowland said. "It's harmful to everyone around here; there are children around here. I think, maybe they should get investigated."

Sean Hughes, a spokesman for Sims Metal, said "the Sims facility ... is one of the largest metal recycling facilities in the country, and any outdoor industrial facility of this type may on occasion have fires. This facility is no exception."

He also noted that the company "is regularly inspected by the fire department and other governmental departments and quickly respond to their recommended corrective measures."


Matt Fondacaro/The Jersey Journal

You can't make this stuff up.

Just as players are practicing for the Barclays, a huge metal/chemical fire under their noses.

Welcome to Jersey City.

Quote:

Metal finings, like those found in a machine shop, mill, or scrap yard, can burn when initiated by an energetic enough source. There could be a fair amount of petroleum derivatives in a working pile of scrap metal, since a great deal of it has industrial and automotive origins, so an intense oil fire could certainly lead to a metal fire. Worse, they're difficult to extinguish. Dry chemicals are often used to starve the fire of oxygen, but on a large scale, that's easier said than done.

Yup, great background for the Barclays golf tournament.

Nearly all metals have an ignition temp where the burn

Magnesium is flammable, burns very hot, and can ignite other metals.

Aluminum will burn quite well if you get it hot enough.

Pardon the slight confusion, but metal is not usually so flammable. What is in this metal recycling plant that's kept this fire alight for the past 8+ hours?

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?sec ... cal/new_jersey&id=9212127

Eyewitness News

JERSEY CITY (WABC) -- A massive fire is burning through a recycling plant in New Jersey overnight, with heavy flames visible for miles.

The fire broke out inside Sims Metal Management on Linden Avenue just after 11 p.m. Monday.

Firefighters were battling the flames from land and from a marine vessel, and crews in claw cranes have been moving debris out of the way in an effort to aid the fight.

No firefighters were injured, but even after more than seven hours, there was no word on when the fire would be under control.

The complex one of the world's largest recycling plants. The plant recycles 4,000 tons of scrap each day.