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EPA, STATE, COUNTY ASSESS WESTLEY TIRE FIRE ON ONE MONTH ANNIVERSARY

Release Date: 10/22/1999
Contact Information: Leo Kay, U.S. EPA, 415/744-2201

     Blaze is now 80% under control

    SAN FRANCISCO -- On the one month anniversary of the Westley Tire Fire, federal, state and local officials gathered at the site to announce that more than 80 percent of the blaze has been suppressed, and that firefighters expect to have the fire under total control by the end of the month.

     The U.S. EPA and the state are now working together to devise a long term management and cleanup plan for the site once the fire has been extinguished.  In the meantime, the EPA is devising an interim plan that will minimize pollution runoff when the rainy season hits.  This will include designing and constructing sedimentation basins that will capture polluted runoff, and continuing to remove fire debris from drainage areas.

     "We've worked long and hard under difficult conditions for the past month to battle this blaze, and we've finally reached a point where we can say it's about under control," said Michael Feeley, deputy director of the U.S. EPA's Superfund program in San Francisco.  "Now that we have addressed the crisis, it's time to work with the state and county to look at the long term issues posed by this site."

     A crew of 50 firefighters continues to battle the remaining portions of the fire.  Firefighters have brought the fire under control by alternately extinguishing flames with foam and water while separating unburned tires using bulldozers and other equipment including the world's largest excavator.   Eight million of the 15 estimated million tires at the site have been removed from the fire zone.

     The EPA has spent more than $2 million thus far fighting the fire.  Earlier this week, the Coast Guard upped the available funding for future firefighting efforts from $1.5 million to $3 million.  Money from the Oil Pollution Trust Fund administered by the Coast Guard has funded the firefighting efforts.

     "EPA has done an excellent job of working to control and extinguish this fire," said Senator Barbara Boxer.  "I remain concerned about the pollution caused by this disaster.  We must move quickly to clean up this site once the fire is completely extinguished."

     "I want to express my profound appreciation to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its professional, effective and immediate response to the Westley tire pile fire," said Congressman Gary A. Condit.  "The EPA made available the personnel, expertise, resources and leadership which brought this disaster to a manageable condition.  The EPA's action relieved local taxpayers of millions of dollars of firefighting costs and a potentially much greater environmental and public health disaster.  Now it is time for state and local agencies to follow the EPA's example and commit the resources necessary to fully remediate and clean up the site.  Again, I want to express appreciation on behalf of Stanislaus County residents to the EPA and its personnel for its forthright and immediate action in protecting public health and environment in Stanislaus County."

      "We applaud the U.S. EPA for stepping up to the plate in a big way to assist local authorities in getting the fire under control," said Cal/EPA Undersecretary Brian Haddix.  "Cal/EPA will continue to work closely with Stanislaus County and the U.S. EPA in a team effort to support environmental mitigation and monitoring efforts."

  "The U.S. EPA came through for our county and I was happy to see that they thought of safety and health first, before economics," said State Supervisor Paul Caruso.

      More than 250,000 gallons of oil has been recovered from the fire through a system that separates oil from water and foam runoff from the site.  EPA officials are working with the state to determine the best way to dispose of the waste oil.