Hand sanitizer leak at troubled New York warehouse sparks stream of fire in ditch
An expired hand sanitizer leak from an upstate New York warehouse sparked a massive fire that took days to extinguish.
On August 30, reportedly expired hand sanitizer leaked from Eco Operations, a warehouse facility in Gorham, which is in the Finger Lakes region of western New York.
Eco Operations, owned by Eduard Zaydman, previously came under fire for not complying with environmental regulations.
During a meeting with the Gorham Planning Board in May, Zaydman stated: ‘There is no danger. It is not really flammable because it’s 30% water. It is very difficult to light that up’.
At a meeting in June, Chairman Thomas Harvey issued a chilling warning about the alleged wasteful warehouse: ‘There is so much stuff in there and it’s alcohol and it burns.
‘It’s not probably explosive, but it will burn and if it catches on fire there is basically no way to put it out other than starving it from oxygen. There is enough quantity in that building that once it starts to go, it’s going to go,’ local NBC affiliate WHEC reported.
The town of Gorham reported multiple violations and notified the Environmental Protection Agency of removal action in July.
Officials believed that there were around 1,000 pallets of expired hand sanitizer and other hazardous items filling the warehouse, which exceeded the New York State fire code.
A massive fire broke out in upstate New York after hazardous materials were allegedly disposed of improperly by a local warehouse
Video footage shared by a local fire department revealed a stream alongside a road had caught fire
Multiple fire departments responded to the scene and worked for almost 24 hours to extinguish the fire
Photos of the site from a July lawsuit against the warehouse’s owner, 4611 Dewey Assets LLC, revealed countless discarded bottles of hand sanitizer lying on the grass.
One image depicted a heap of bottles and wet boxes piled on top of one another, and another photo showed a gigantic pile of hand sanitizer littering the outside of the warehouse.
The warehouse was also issued a notice of violation in January by the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Finger Lakes Times reported.
Gorham’s code enforcement officer, Jim Morse, ordered Zaydman to cease operations, but the town alleges it never happened.
The warehouse’s owner had gone back and forth with local officials at town meetings about hazardous materials
Court documents revealed photos of hand sanitizer bottles and wet cardboard boxes littering the grass
Hand sanitizer is highly flammable with at least a 60 percent alcohol content, making it a hazardous material when disposed of
Town Supervisor Dale Stell told the Finger Lakes Times that the town was forced to put a plan in place in case the materials caught fire.
Local assemblyman Jeff Gallahan slammed Eco Operations in a social media post, calling the massive fire ‘entirely preventable’.
‘The warehouse was filled with highly flammable expired hand sanitizer, and the owner, Eco Operations LLC, Eduard Zaydman, repeatedly ignored both town codes and state laws, failing to install a fire suppression system or obtain the proper licenses required to store such materials,’ Gallahan stated.
‘The owner has even attempted to illegally dump waste from this site. This reckless and irresponsible behavior has now led to a fire that threatened lives, property, and the environment’.
Gallahan added that he would be contacting the state attorney general’s office on the matter. Daily Mail has reached out to Zaydman via email for comment on the fire.
Eduard Zaydman was listed as the warehouse’s owner. He also owns a distillery called Cayuga Ingredients
The devastation ravaged the warehouse site and nearby streets in the town of Gorham
Scenes from the massive fire were shocking, revealing wild flames and smoke billowing over the sky
Scenes from the massive blaze were shocking, with the Crystal Beach Fire Department sharing a video of a stream along a road on fire.
Hand sanitizer typically contains at least 60 percent alcohol content, making it highly flammable.
The product is considered hazardous waste after it’s discarded. Alcohol can vaporize and release flammable gas, causing the flames to grow.
Stell said that due to the hand sanitizer’s high alcohol content, it took a significant amount of water to contain the fire.
Other harrowing images revealed smoke billowing in the sky over Gorham as the town urged residents to avoid the area.
Those in proximity were advised to close their doors and windows to prevent inhaling the smoke.
Multiple agencies responded to the fire and worked for almost 24 hours straight to contain it, the Gorham Fire Company announced.
City officials said they were prepared for the potential of a fire and was able to extinguish it without any injuries reported
The Environmental Protection Agency is working with local officials to determine the impact of the fire and hand sanitizer leak
A local assemblyman slammed the warehouse’s owner, calling the incident ‘preventable’
Dewey Street, where the warehouse was located, had been closed to the public as hot spots remained after the fire was extinguished.
The Environmental Protection Agency is working with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and other related agencies to monitor runoff and impacts to the environment following the devastation.
The town released a statement after the fire, notifying residents that officials had been ‘aware of the potential hazard of the building and its contents for several months’.
Due to their awareness, officials had a plan in place if the event occurred, and there were no reported injuries from the fire.