Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 27, 1995 TAG: 9507270064
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER AND TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT NOTE: ABOVE LENGTH: Medium
A fire that destroyed a tire-shredding company plagued by problems during its one-year history is being investigated as a possible arson.
Wednesday night, investigators from the state police arson unit were at Virginia Rubber Recycling Inc. Fire officials said they expected the tires would still be burning today.
No one was injured in the fire.
A tower of black and gray smoke hung in the sky for hours after the blaze broke out about noon Wednesday at the Virginia Rubber building in the Franklin County-Rocky Mount Industrial Park on State Street.
Minutes after firefighters arrived at the scene, flames were shooting skyward out of the corrugated metal building's roof. More than 100 people from five fire companies took turns battling the intensely hot fire and seeking respite under a tent borrowed from a funeral home.
From atop a 40-foot ladder, Roanoke County firefighters sprayed about 1,000 gallons of water a minute into the building as workers below pumped more water on the heaps of burning tires.
Others dug a trench with heavy equipment to prevent toxic chemicals from running off and contaminating the ground water.
Franklin County Public Safety Director Claude Webster said the cause of the fire hadn't been determined.
But Rocky Mount Police Chief Butch Jenkins said, "We are looking at it as a suspicious fire." Jenkins also said that Virginia Rubber employees were cooperating with police and had turned over company documents to them.
Company officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The fire marks the end of a troubled first year of business for Virginia Rubber, which pulverized old tires into a powder that could be used to make new rubber products and fuel.
Among the problems:
nIn May, after a routine inspection, the state Department of Environmental Quality found Virginia Rubber was storing 7,000 tires, said Norman Auldridge of the DEQ's Roanoke regional office. The company's permit allows it to handle only 4,000 tires at a time.
In June, the company had not complied with the permit and was sent another notice of violation.
The company told the DEQ it planned to get a bigger shredder and apply for a change in its permit to handle more tires, Auldridge said. The DEQ has not taken further enforcement action.
nLast fall, Rocky Mount Town Council voted 5-1 to allow Virginia Rubber to store tires in four tractor-truck trailers on the property as well as inside its building. Councilman Posey Dillon, who was helping to fight the fire Wednesday, cast the dissenting vote. He said the company already had tires piled up to the roof inside the building and he warned of the potential for a fire that could damage community health and the environment.
nVirginia Rubber's main tire-shredding machine broke for several weeks recently, resulting in employee layoffs, according to a source close to the company. People who live nearby said Wednesday that the plant's parking lot has been virtually empty for weeks.
nA Rocky Mount convenience store, The Panda, instructed its employees not to cash payroll checks from Virginia Rubber.
Several checks from Virginia Rubber had bounced, but the company later paid its debts and the sign with the warning was removed after several days, the store's owner said.
nAnd, a source close to the company said, ownership of Virginia Rubber has changed hands more than once and the company changed presidents at least once in its short history.
Virginia Rubber Recycling originally was affiliated with National Rubber Recycling in San Antonio, Texas, but now has a different owner, according to the source close to the company. The opening of the $1 million Rocky Mount plant was announced in April 1994. Last December, about 22 employees were working at the plant.
At that time, plant managers said they would eventually employ 30 workers. The plant was to collect tires from 13 nearby counties.
The fire and smoke did not pose a health threat to local residents, according to Bob Saunders of the DEQ's regional air pollution division. The smoke rose 300 or 400 yards straight in the air, and most of it didn't filter down onto the dozens of onlookers.
Staff writers Lisa K. Garcia, Cathryn McCue and Jeff Sturgeon contributed information to this story.
by CNB