JUNE 10, 2015
NEW OXFORD, PA
Approximately 4,500
New Oxford residents continued to get their water from York County after public
safety officials detected contaminants in the south branch of the Conewago Creek
in the aftermath of the Monday fire that destroyed the Miller Chemical and
Fertilizer Corp., in Conewago Township just outside Hanover.
Officials are
closely monitoring another tributary after they found traces of herbicides,
pesticides and other substances consistent with possible contamination.
Officials shut down
the main intake for water for New Oxford early on Monday in advance of a
possible contamination from the runoff of the water used to battle the blaze.
John Repetz, a
spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, explained that
as a result, water samples showed no negative impact to the water supply for
the borough.
The contamination
continued to work its way through the creek on Tuesday, however, but the intake
remained shut down. Residents do not have access to that water.
"There is no
contamination getting into the water system," Repetz said.
The New Oxford
Municipal Water Authority, he said, had water in storage, and on Monday began
augment that supply with water from the York Water Authority.
Emergency officials
Monday evening lifted the shelter-in-place restrictions that had been in place
throughout the day as fire fighters and emergency responders battled the blaze
at the fertilizer plant. The fire, which broke out sometime around 3:30 a.m. on
Monday with a series of explosions, continued under investigation.
Hazmat officials on
Monday found no toxins in the air, only nuisance levels of particulates and
irritants. Repetz said there were no air quality issues present on Tuesday.
Officials also
continued to monitor water from Slagels Run, a tributary of the Conewago Creek.
Samples from Slagels Run, Repetz said, showed the presence of substances
"consistent with what might be expected in an incident like we had
yesterday, a major fire at a company that deals with fertilizer."
"We are seeing
nutrients in the water - herbicides and pesticides, that are consistent with
this type of incident," Repetz said.
He said officials
would release final results to the public once the report was completed.
Slagels Run feeds
into the south branch of the Conewago Creek; New Oxford is downstream from that
point.
Hanover, which is in
York County and borders the location of the fertilizer plant, draws its water
from Kitzmiller Dam and is not affected by the water contamination.
"Hanover is
able to draw (water) normally," Repetz said.
He said supplying a
safe water systems to residents in the area continued to be the agency's top
priority.
He said Monday's
severe storms potentially helped matters as the rain water diluted the
contaminants in the creek.
"It was
potentially a good thing," he said.
Repetz could not
give a timeline as to when residents of the borough would return to getting
water from their main water source.
He reiterated that
the public water in this part of Adams County was safe.
"There's
nothing wrong with the water coming from the tap," he said.
//---------------///
BLAZE DESTROYS YORK COUNTY, PA FERTILIZER
PLANT; NO TOXINS IN AIR
Emergency officials
from Adams and York counties on Monday morning continued to urge residents and
workers to remain indoors as they continued to battle a blaze that destroyed a residential fertilizer
plant in Conewago Township, just outside Hanover.
The fire at
Miller Chemical and Fertilizer Corp., on Radio Road, broke out just before 3:30
a.m. and continued to smoulder and spew black smoke by midmorning. Gusty winds
at times spread the black smoke across this largely rural area. The smoke could
be seen from miles away.
John Eline, Adams
Co. Director of Emergency Services, said officials continued to monitor the
air, but that no toxins had been detected.
In a mid-morning
press conference, Eline said firefighters had stopped using water to douse the
fire, concerned with the volume of water used earlier on. He said emergency
officials had built a dam to contain the water runoff from the operation. He
said officials had some concerns that the water could be toxic and they wanted
to protect public water.
Eline said, that
despite the heavy black smoke that continued to smoulder from the collapsed
building, the air contained irritants but nothing toxic that had been
detected.
He asked residents
and local business workers - especially anyone with chronic lung conditions -
to stay indoors.
Officials say the
fire began shortly before 3:30 a.m. with a large explosion - followed by
several subsequent explosions. Fire officials responded to an automatic fire
alarm.
Fire Chief Tom
Lawrence said no one was in the building at the time. No injuries had been
reported.
Source:http://www.pennlive.com