WHITEWATER, Wis. — An overnight fire at a waste disposal center in Whitewater likely caused millions of dollars in damage, fire officials said during a Monday press conference.
In total, roughly 30 different agencies from the surrounding area responded to John’s Disposal Service after a fire broke out shortly before 10 p.m. Sunday.
According to the city’s assistant fire chief, Joe Uselding, they faced numerous issues when they arrived.
“First off, there is no water supply on the John’s Disposal property other than drinking water so we didn’t have the water that we required to fight the incident,” he said at a press conference Monday.
To get around that, they pumped water through many feet of hose line from the neighboring L S P Whitewater power plant. With the help of 15 different water tenders, they set up a water shuttle and two fill points in the city of Whitewater.
No one was injured in the blaze, but part of one of the structures — a building that housed recycling equipment — collapsed due to the fire.
“So, crews that were operating in the buckets did have to be on air when they were exposed to the chemicals,” said Uselding. “Various materials in recycling have a lot of plastics which are usually petroleum-based. We also deal with cardboard which can be coated in various different materials, so we never know what we’re bringing in, so we’re always planning for the worst and trying to keep ourselves safe.”
The assistant chief said crews are still monitoring hotspots at the site and may need to continue doing so for a couple of days.
“This is likely going to be a lengthy incident,” he said, adding there’s no danger to the public.
RELATED: None injured in fire at John’s Disposal in Whitewater
The bulk of the fire was knocked down early Monday morning around 2 or 3 a.m., but firefighters haven’t been able to extinguish every hotspot because of rubble from the partially collapsed building that’s blocking access.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has been called to monitor runoff in the area, Uselding said.
Investigators were still working to determine the cause of the fire as of Monday afternoon.
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