WHITEWATER, Wis. — Crews monitoring runoff from a fire at a Whitewater waste disposal site earlier this week have not found any serious environmental impacts in a nearby creek, according to one official with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Trevor Nobile, Field Operations Director for the Remediation and Redevelopment Program at the Wisconsin DNR, said crews responded to John’s Disposal Service Sunday night as the fire was still burning and began monitoring the area right away to catch any signs of hazardous runoff.
“I think timing is of the essence sometimes when it comes to a hazardous substance discharge or event such as this because the quicker you can get after it can limit the amount of environmental damage that occurs during some of these events,” Nobile said.
RELATED: Damage from fire at Whitewater disposal center estimated at ‘millions’
While some runoff from the firefighting effort made its way to a nearby creek, the majority of the runoff was contained at the site of the fire.
Nobile said initial surveys of the site didn’t indicate there was any major contamination, but evaluations are still ongoing.
“Spills happen; hazardous substance discharge happen[s],” Nobile said. “Really, notifying us and getting the appropriate parties and agencies involved at an early stage is crucial in making these environmental assessments or these evaluations on what that response effort looks like.”
DNR officials plan to continue working with partners at John’s Disposal Service in the coming days and weeks to monitor the situation as cleanup continues.
COPYRIGHT 2022 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
