THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 27, 1995 TAG: 9505270450
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
Nearly a week after a devastating fire ripped through the Fine Petroleum Co. warehouse, officials moved closer to identifying possible suspects Friday. But they were not yet ready to say arson was the cause.
Officials said at a news conference that three juveniles had been questioned about the fire. The youths, all under 15, are not in police custody, but officials said they will seek court permission next week to detain them.
Suspicions were raised after interviews with dozens of nearby residents as well as the youths themselves, investigators said. Police also received a Crime Line tip.
Ronald T. Wakeham, director of fire and paramedical services, said all three youths live within walking distance of the warehouse.
``They have an interesting story,'' Wakeham said without elaborating.
The cleanup from the fire will be undertaken cautiously to protect workers and nearby residents from any toxic chemicals that might remain in the wreckage.
``Safety will take precedence over any investigation,'' said Wakeham.
The warehouse, located at the end of St. Julian Avenue near Calvary Cemetery, burned Saturday night. Dozens of residents from nearby Roberts Village and Ballentine Place, as well as curious onlookers from across Hampton Roads poured into the neighborhood to watch more than 100 firefighters at work.
Fed by hundreds of drums of chemicals, the fire burned for hours, spewing a cloud of thick black, and possibly toxic, smoke that was seen for miles.
Clearing the 146 by 90-foot warehouse will be tedious but not impossible, said Leanne Nurse, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Brittle steel walls - weakened by the flames and water from fire hoses - could collapse at any time. The roof has caved in. Piles of debris have made a search through the building much too risky.
But the building's condition is just half of the danger.
Like accidents waiting to happen, more than 200 55-gallon drums of unmarked and potentially hazardous chemicals are scattered throughout the two-story structure. Some may be partially ruptured and heat-stressed, increasing the threat of leakage.
``The fact remains you're going to see additional releases,'' Nurse said. ``We still have the possibility of fire and explosion.''
To add to the risk, she said, the building houses thousands of smaller chemical containers. Each will have to be cataloged and properly disposed.
To get inside, workers will first remove the collapsed warehouse roof, a process that could take days. Then, Nurse said, investigators plan to peel back the building's walls like a ripe piece of fruit in order to assess the internal damage.
Officials said their efforts to identify all the chemicals could be made easier if they had more support from the warehouse owners. In the past few years, Milton S. Fine - a principal in the company that owns the warehouse - has been embroiled in a controversial investigation of illegal dumping of hazardous wastes.
Fine Petroleum has occupied the site since 1970. Fine told fire officials that he closed the warehouse in September and moved to another site in Chesapeake.
After the fire, Fine declined to answer a reporter's questions about the fire. His wife said the couple had been on a three-day Caribbean cruise when the fire started. They returned Saturday night, and met at the site Sunday with city officials and their insurer.
``They have not been overly co-operative at this point,'' said Ronald Tarrington, of the Norfolk office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. ``There's a lot of chemicals on that site . . . We haven't received a list.''
KEYWORDS: FIRE HAZARDOUS WASTE by CNB