APRIL 24, 2015
EAST PALO ALTO, CALIF. (AP)
A person was killed this morning in a fire at an abandoned
chemical refinery site in East Palo Alto, firefighters said.
Firefighters responded just after 1 a.m. to the abandoned
Romic Chemical Refinery Site (aka Romic Environmental Technology recycling
plant) on Bay Road on a report of a fire.
The fire was located inside a double-wide trailer at the
site, which was used during the dismantling of the facility years ago and had
been left behind, he said. The trailer, he said, did not have power or heat.
They later discovered a body in the burned out trailer,
firefighters said.
The site had been abandoned years ago (2007), and the only
items left on the former plant site were trailers and storage containers,
firefighters said. There was no power to the trailers, and investigators
suspect the victim was transient, possibly using the trailer for shelter,
firefighters said.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation. The
identity of the person killed has not been released.
--Bay City News
Romic Environmental Technologies Corporation (or
"Romic") is a former hazardous waste management facility located in
East Palo Alto, California near the San Francisco Bay. In 2007, Romic
management closed the facility. It ceased accepting waste as of August 3, 2007.
Romic operated the 12.6 acre facility from approximately 1964
to 2007. Historical facility operations included solvent recycling, fuel
blending, wastewater treatment, and hazardous waste storage and treatment. Soil
and ground water beneath the site became contaminated as a result of Romic's
past operations and that of its predecessor companies dating back to the 1950s.
The primary contaminants in the soil and ground water are volatile organic
compounds (VOCs). Typical VOCs found at Romic are solvents such as
trichloroethene (TCE) which were used to clean metal parts. Ground water
contamination extends across most of the site to a depth of at least 80 feet
below ground surface. The ground water is salty and is not a drinking water
source.
In July 2008, U.S. EPA made a remedy decision for clean-up
of Romic's soil and ground water contamination. Enhanced biological treatment
would be employed, in which a mixture of cheese whey, molasses, and water is
injected into the subsurface to enhance the natural breakdown of the
contaminants.
U.S. EPA selected the final remedy based on public input,
new information, and analysis.
Contaminated sediments in the slough adjacent to Romic will
be covered in a later action.
