Large fire at Port of Providence scrapyard prompts state action. What to know.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – July 10, 2024 – A large fire at the Rhode Island Recycled Metals scrapyard near the Port of Providence on Wednesday morning sent large plumes of thick, black smoke billowing over nearby neighborhoods for hours.
It was the second fire there in the last three months and prompted the Office of Attorney General Peter F. Neronha to file a request in Superior Court to have the Allens Avenue business immediately shut down. Judge Brian Stern will hold a hearing on the filing Friday morning. Rhode Island Recycled Metals has agreed to suspend operations until then, according to the attorney general’s office.
It comes amid an ongoing court case being pursued by Neronha’s office and the state Department of Environmental Management to clean up the waterfront property and enact more stringent pollution controls there. Legal counsel for the DEM was also at the emergency court conference on Wednesday in which the state asked for stricter oversight for the property.
Gov. Dan McKee also weighed in on the controversial facility that has been the subject of concerns about environmental impacts for more than a decade.
“This has gone on way too long – these repeated emergencies threaten the health and safety of our nearby communities in Providence, disrupting the daily lives of nearby residents and threatening Narragansett Bay,” he said in a statement. “I support the actions taken today to push forward efforts to hold RI Recycled Metals accountable for the damage it’s done to this site and the environmental harms it has caused to the community.”
A spokesman for Rhode Island Recycled Metals said the company will review its practices.
“We plan to reopen on Monday after the clean-up and collaboration with city and state officials,” said Patrick Sweeney. “RIRM thanks Providence’s first responders who were quickly on scene and swiftly took care of the incident.”
What caused the fire?
Providence Fire Chief Derek Silva said when firefighters arrived, they found that the fire was deep in the pile of scrap metal. As an excavator pulled out bunches of scrap metal, it was burned black, which Silva said indicated the intense heat of the blaze.
Silva said the cause of the fire is not thought to be arson, but rather, something from within the pile, such as an empty propane tank or lithium-ion batteries. Even empty propane tanks still have some small amount of propane left, he said.
Fire investigators are reviewing security footage to see if they can figure out when the fire started and from what spot in the pile.
How long will the fire burn?
Firefighters said they did not expect to extinguish the fire until Wednesday evening, even as they dumped an estimated 3,000 gallons a minute on the pile.
DEM monitoring for pollution
While Wednesday was a little windy, it was blowing the smoke away from the firefighters, allowing them to breathe a little easier. Air monitors were set up in a triangle shape around the area, including at Collier Point and around the hospitals in South Providence. As of early Wednesday afternoon, none of the air quality monitors showed problems.