Evacuations forced after waste plant catches on fire

By Jeanne Starmack

Residents within a half-mile of the plant were asked to leave their homes, including 53 from a nursing home.

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — A fire at an industrial waste services company off Sampson Street forced an evacuation Thursday afternoon while seven fire departments battled the blaze, which broke out around 11:45 a.m.

New Castle Fire Chief Tom Maciarello said the fire was caused when a worker using an acetylene torch accidentally ignited wall insulation.

Hazardous materials teams also arrived, including a first response team from Lawrence County, the Beaver County hazardous materials team and McCutcheon Complete Waste Management, which is under contract to work for the county.

Lawrence County Public Safety Director Brian Melcer said no one was injured in the fire at Castle Environmental. The building and immediate area were evacuated, then everyone within a half-mile radius of the plant was, he said. Chemicals in the 60,000-square-foot building that caused concern were sulfuric acid and ferric chloride, he said.

Evacuees, including 53 people from the Silver Oaks Nursing Center at 715 Harbor St., gathered at the Scottish Rite Cathedral on East Lincoln Avenue. Some of the nursing-home residents who needed extra care were taken to Jameson Health Center, said Commissioner Richard DeBlasio, who visited evacuees at the cathedral.

The county leases space in the cathedral for its department of public safety. The Cathedral Foundation, which owns the building, offers it as a shelter in public emergencies, said Rich Sbarro, foundation president. “This is part of our outreach for the community,” he said.

In the basement of the cavernous cathedral, several people kept children busy and waited for word that they could go home.

Greg Brier and Jeanette DiClaudio, who live on Sampson Street five houses away from Castle Environmental, sat at a table. A short distance away, Brier’s fiancee, Georgette West, entertained her sons Nathan, 3, and Mikey, 5. West and DiClaudio are sisters, and she watches the boys while West attends nursing school at Jameson.

Brier, who said he works a night shift, was just waking up when the fire broke out. DiClaudio was waiting for the boys to come home from school.

“I went out on the front porch and happened to look over and see big, black smoke across the sky,” Brier said. He said a strange odor made him and DiClaudio dizzy and nauseated.

“It was nasty,” he said, while DiClaudio described it as “metallic.”

He said that a police officer came to their house around 12:15 p.m. to tell them to evacuate.

They left, picking up Nathan from Head Start on Cunningham Avenue. They killed time at Gaston Park on the city’s east side, he said, before heading to Lockley Elementary School to pick up Mikey at 3 p.m. Then, they picked up West at Jameson.

At Lockley, they learned that shelter was available in the cathedral, so they made their way to it. They were ready for the frightening, confusing day to end.

“I just want to go home,” said Brier, who needed to get ready for work.

DeBlasio made his way over to their table, and he told them they should be going home soon.

It wasn’t until 6 p.m. that officials gave the word that residents were allowed to return home.

Maciarello estimated damage to the plant at around $5 million.