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Hazmat crews from Portage, Trumbull, respond to Vernon fire
By JOE GORMAN
VERNON
A fire official says a township salvage yard where a fire broke out Saturday morning and burned for hours was once the site where chemicals were illegally dumped.
Burghill-Vernon Fire Chief George Snyder said Countryside Salvage, 6542 Orangeville Kinsman Road, also had its permit pulled by the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office within the past couple of years, but he does not know why.
Crews were called to the yard about 9:45 a.m. for a report of tires burning, but Snyder said the yard had more than tires ablaze.
“There’s all kinds of stuff in there,” he said.
Snyder said chemicals from out of state were illegally dumped in the 1990s, and at one time it was a federal Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site, but he is unsure of its status now.
Because of the past dumping, the state EPA was called and suggested hazardous materials teams be called in to ensure necessary precautions are being taken in case something hazardous did catch fire.
“We don’t know exactly what we have got out here,” Snyder said.
Teams from Trumbull and Portage counties were on the scene, and Pennsylvania authorities were consulted as well because the yard is so close to the state border, Snyder said.
Tanker trucks from other departments were also called in to bring water to the scene to help fight the fire, which was still burning at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Snyder said his department hadn’t answered a call at the business for at least 10 years.
Other departments assisting included West Salem, Pa.; Fowler, Hartford, Johnston and Gustavus townships and firefighters from the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna. The state fire marshal’s office also was called out.
A cause for the blaze hasn’t been determined yet.
Snyder said there were no injuries.