WINNSBORO – A massive fire, which started on Aug. 16 and burned for almost three days, has destroyed the Healthcare US manufacturing plant south of Winnsboro where MLILY memory foam mattresses were produced.
Fairfield County Administrator Vic Carpenter said during a press conference Monday that the approximately 650,000-sq. ft. plant on Highway 321 is a total loss. The facility was formerly the location of Mack Trucks.
As of Tuesday, the county stated that while “the fire has been largely put out, there is smoke coming from hot spots under the rubble.”
The county said that Fairfield County Fire Service, Sheriff’s Department, EMS and Rescue Squad along with volunteer agencies from around the state are still on site monitoring the situation.
The county fire service is using a thermal drone to examine the rubble and identify the hot spots.
“Once it is deemed safe, crews will use heavy equipment to uncover the hot spots and put those out,” the release stated. “This process could take more than two weeks to eradicate the hot spots completely.”
The county’s public information officer, Gene Stephens, said the smoke will be persistent in the area until all of the hot spots are extinguished. He said the EPA has been on site since Monday afternoon, monitoring the air quality conditions, and that officials have confirmed that there is no danger to citizens. There is no information available yet about the conditions of the runoff into creeks, the ash and the groundwater.
Fire Repeatedly Re-ignites
The fire was first reported about 9:58 a.m. Sunday when firefighters responded to an alarm at the plant. Employees working at the facility were evacuated and accounted for, Carpenter said. No employees were reported injured.
Officials said initially foam product on a conveyor were on fire, but no details as to how it started have been made available. County Administrator Vic Carpenter said an investigation into how and where the fire started will be initiated soon.
Firefighters initially brought the blaze under control and had it confined to one area of the facility by about 6 p.m. Sunday, according to a Sunday press release issued by Fairfield County.
Officials said during the news conference Monday afternoon that fire trucks and personnel were on site throughout the night, but the fire had reignited at some point and at about 11:30 p.m. and eventually burned through the roof of the building, having already burned through all three floors of the plant. A huge plume of smoke above the plant could be seen for miles.
By 8 a.m. Monday, county officials said firefighters had again contained the fire to the back right corner of the facility. Later Monday morning, however, the fire broke out again.
“The building was a total loss at that point, with fire totally inundating the entire facility,” Carpenter said.
The South Carolina Firefighter Mobilization Program was activated, bringing volunteer and career firefighters from departments across the state to Winnsboro.
Carpenter said approximately 150 firefighters from 15 agencies responded with 14 engines, seven tankers and tenders, three ladder trucks, a brush truck, eight personnel transports and a foam trailer.
Despite the size and duration of the fire, injuries among emergency personnel were limited. Carpenter said one individual was transported Sunday for a heat-related issue and two others were transported for minor injuries unrelated to the fire itself.
Environmental Concerns
As firefighters continued working to extinguish hot spots Monday, much of the concern shifted to the thick smoke from the fire and the potential environmental effects of runoff from water used to fight the industrial blaze.
Carpenter said both air and water were being monitored.
“The S.C. Department of Environmental Services and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have been involved in monitoring conditions from the beginning,” he said.
EPA personnel responded from Atlanta with testing equipment, he said, while DES personnel from Columbia were also on the scene.
“Though much smoke is in the air, it is non-toxic; it is non-threatening to our citizens,” Carpenter said. “MLILY officials have been very engaged as well with us, to ensure that we knew everything that we needed to know.”
The community’s environmental concerns are many, however, including the large amount of water used to battle the fire, the runoff from the site into nearby creeks, and whether the widespread ash and debris from the fire are toxic.
Those answers won’t come until testing of soil and water is completed.
“Anytime you have a large fire, an industrial fire, there is runoff,” Carpenter said.
He said contractors had been brought in Monday to dam a creek to prevent affected water from moving farther downstream. Plans also call for removing affected water from the creek.
Carpenter said his understanding is that groundwater wells in the area will be tested to determine whether they have been affected.
County officials said they also plan to communicate directly with residents living closest to the plant as additional test results become available.
“We want to know everybody in the immediate vicinity so we can build a database, and we can reach out to them directly,” Carpenter said.
“We will be updating as soon as we have information that is accurate and good,” Carpenter said.
After the cause of the fire is investigated, Carpenter said, that information will be provided as soon as it is available.
This story was updated Wednesday, August 19 at 8:59 p.m.
