String of fires at this Savannah recycling plant raise concerns about safety
Eight fires and one dust explosion have occurred at the Celadon Plant at 48 Artley Road since it opened in November 2021, endangering employees at the paper processing plant, according to documents obtained through an open records request from the Savannah Fire Department.
In total, there have been 13 incidents that SFD responded to at the paper recycling plant, including three structure fires, three building fires and one outside stationary compactor/compacted trash fire. Additionally, there have been four false alarms.
No one has died due to the fires or explosion, but documents reveal that one person was injured in the most recent dust explosion on Oct. 10.
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What caused the fires at the Celadon Plant?
The string of fires and the recent explosion raise questions about whether there are enough safety guardrails and precautions against fires and explosions at the plant.
According to an analysis of the SFD fire reports, each of the fires originated in different areas ― the conveyor, equipment area, outside, or in the processing area.
But one material ― dust ― was the culprit in the majority of the ignitions.
Dust also caused at least one false alarm. When SFD arrived to reports of a fire alarm going off, they found the air “full of small particles of paper products” and the smoke detector “covered in paper products and dust.”
Twice, according to the SFD reports, Celadon had a design deficiency that partially caused the fire. Once, there was a failure to clean. Once, there was abandoned or discarded materials or products.
Only once was a fire at least partially caused by a “human factor," according to an analysis of the SFD fire reports.
Fires at recycling plants increasingly common
“You're talking a decent amount,” said Ryan Fogelman, an entrepreneur who works with fire prevention company Fire Rover, in a phone call about the number of fires at Celadon Plant.
Across the country, fires at recycling plants are becoming increasingly common, Fogelman said. Since Fogelman began tracking recycling plant fires in 2016, "2022 was the worst year for publicly reported fire incidents at waste and recycling facilities in the U.S. and Canada," Fogelman wrote in his recent report. In 2022, "waste and recycling facilities in the U.S. and Canada experienced 390 fires, two deaths, and 56 direct and indirect injuries," Fogelman noted in the report, though that's an undercount because smaller fires often go unreported by media.
"The more proximate to uncontrolled waste burning, the higher the risk of exposure to these dangers and pollutants," Fogelman wrote in the report. "In addition to the adverse effects of exposure to pollutants, flying sparks and embers can easily lead to uncontrolled fires, posing a substantial threat to life, property, and the environment."
“The only way to solve this problem is education, technology and operations,” Fogelman said in the phone call. “You need to make sure you’re keeping your risk segregated, or at least mitigated.”
On Sept. 3, 2022, SFD responded to a report of an equipment fire inside of the Celadon Plant. On arrival, Engine 13 (E13) found the plant had light smoke billowing out of three sides of the building.
“Employees stated that a paper processing machine was on fire,” according to the SFD report.
SFD hadn’t seen the worst of it: Before SFD arrived, employees, along with the sprinkler system inside the machine, put out the bulk of the fire, until the outside tank ran out of water, according to the SFD report.
Truck 13 (T13) had the building maintenance staff shut down power to the affected area. Then, the SFD units, assisted by company maintenance, pulled off access covers to the conveyor and hopper areas of the machine, before extinguishing the fire and smoldering product. Units continued to overhaul the paper recycling machine, using hose lines.
“The business staff stated that they would be remaining on site continuously to monitor the building,” according to the SFD incident report.
SFD continued to keep a close eye on the Celadon Plant, according to emails obtained from the City of Savannah via open records request.
Three days after the fire, on Sept. 6, 2022, Celadon Plant administrative staff met with SFD to discuss “concerns Savannah Fire Department has regarding the dust hazard that your processing has created that has resulted in five active fires in the previous nine months,” detailed Cheryl Mason, deputy fire marshal with the Fire Prevention Division of SFD, in a Sept. 7, 2022, email she sent to Celadon administrative staff.
“We will need to work together to create a safer work environment for your staff as well as a less hazardous facility for our fire department personnel,” wrote Mason.
Mason then outlined 10 “items that needed to be addressed.”
Those included:
Signing a third-party contractor to conduct a dust hazard analysis of the facility and its contents.
Registering Celadon with the State of Georgia Hazardous Material Division.
Providing documentation to SFD, including an emergency evacuation plan, a housekeeping routine and schedule, and fire extinguisher training for staff.
Providing temporary or permanent measures planned for dust collection and/or removal.
SFD also asked Celadon to “provide equipment manufacturers' specifications regarding 'dust collection and fire protection systems.'"
“There were no requirements per the Promeco manufacturing. We were told there would be no dust upon buying the equipment,” Celadon Plant Regional Operations Manager Danielle Garza wrote in an email to Mason sent on Sept. 9, 2022.
After those exchange of emails, four more incidents, including the recent dust explosion, occurred at the plant.
In an email requesting an interview, SFD Communications Specialist Brian Gallagher issued a statement:
“SFD has seen an uptick in service calls to the area of 48 Artley Rd. Because of this, SFD has engaged with the owners and leadership of the company to better mitigate the risk. Our fire marshal’s office and the state have been involved to fully evaluate the facility. After numerous inspections and conversations with management, we’ve asked the company to conduct a dust analysis, add additional extinguishing equipment and improve their ventilation process. The company has worked with us and complied. The manufacturing process was even changed to improve cleanliness and the overall safety of its employees.”
'We will need to work together to create a safer work environment'
On June 29, 2022, the Combustion Testing Laboratory within the Fike Corporation received a sample from the Celadon Plant, according to emails obtained by SMN. Two weeks later, the Combustion Testing Laboratory within the Fike Corporation sent the results of the dry dust test.
“What these reports that you sent me are saying is that you have an explosive dust,” said Andy Lynch, founder and CEO of the Fire Solutions Group, who was contacted by the Morning News to provide an independent opinion on the results. Lynch compared Celadon’s dust results to the 2008 Imperial Sugar Company Dust Explosion and Fire, in which 14 people were killed and 38 injured.
“You'd have to have someone walk through that plant, confirm that there's large amounts of dust on the factory floor and then they would need an engineer to start designing systems for them to mitigate that dust risk,” said Lynch.
He added that Celadon should review the National Fire Protection Associations’ standards, specifically NFPA 654, the “standard for the Prevention of Fire and Dust Explosions from the Manufacturing, Processing, and Handling of Combustible Particulate Solids.”
The Savannah Morning News called a Celadon human resources (HR) representative to ask how the paper recycling plant is addressing the fire concerns. The HR representative declined comment and said she would pass the reporter's number to another representative. The SMN has not heard back.
On Oct. 23, Mason conducted the annual fire inspection of the Celadon Plant. Under “inspection violations,” the summary only contained one sentence.
“Congratulations, no violation has been noted for [your] location.”
Drew Favakeh is the public safety and courts reporter for Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at AFavakeh@savannahnow.com.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Fires at Celadon paper recycling plant in Savannah raise safety concerns
