samanthajane13
08-27-2009, 02:08 PM
By COREY WILLIAMS, Associated Press Writer Corey Williams, Associated Press Writer – 27 mins ago
HAMTRAMCK, Mich. – A fire broke out Thursday at a chemical plant near Detroit, sending flames and black smoke hundreds of feet into the air, interrupting Amtrak passenger rail service and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate the area.
The fire broke out about 11:30 a.m., and Hamtramck officials quickly called in the Detroit and Highland Park fire departments for assistance.
The fire is at Sterling Services, a company involved in the biofuel business.
There were no reports of injuries.
Amtrak passenger rail service was suspended between Pontiac and Detroit, about 20 miles apart. Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said passengers will be shuttled between the cities by charter bus.
"I saw it burning out of the office window. It's been burning since about 11 o'clock. There were a couple of pops, three pops now," said Tom Lijana, who works at an office about 300 yards from the plant. He said his company, the Bing Group, hadn't been told to evacuate as of about 12:20 p.m.
Residents were evacuated for about a half-mile around the fire, said Kevin Kondrat, executive director of the Hamtramck Housing Commission. That included a nearby complex of 36 buildings containing 300 apartments and some 700 to 800 residents, though Kondrat said not all were home at the time of the blaze.
"The evacuation went very, very, very smooth," he said.
Lutalo Sephers, 34, said police used loud speakers on his street to tell residents to evacuate.
"I've lived here over 30 years and this is the first time that we've ever seen anything like this," Sephers said.
An evacuation center was set up at a nearby senior center, Kondrat said, with water available for evacuees. Abnout 15 or 20 people had arrived by about 1 p.m.
The plant is in an industrial area with several small factories, and workers from nearby businesses paused to watch the blaze.
Robert McCann, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, said Sterling Services Ltd. has no history of violations with the state.
The company is registered as a bulk petroleum facility that stores large quantities of gasoline or other fuels, he said.
State or federal environmental officials will monitor air quality at the scene, McCann said.
Sterling Services is a subsidiary of Southfield-based Sterling Oil & Chemical Co. Inc., according to a company Web site. The Hamtramck facility is on more than five acres and has a storage capacity of about 5 million gallons.
___
Associated Press writers David Grant in Hamtramck and David Aguilar, David N. Goodman, Jeff Karoub, Ben Leubsdorf and Ed White in Detroit contributed to this story.
(This version CORRECTS that the expressway has not been closed.)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090827/ap_on_re_us/us_chemical_fire_hamtramck
HAMTRAMCK, Mich. – A fire broke out Thursday at a chemical plant near Detroit, sending flames and black smoke hundreds of feet into the air, interrupting Amtrak passenger rail service and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate the area.
The fire broke out about 11:30 a.m., and Hamtramck officials quickly called in the Detroit and Highland Park fire departments for assistance.
The fire is at Sterling Services, a company involved in the biofuel business.
There were no reports of injuries.
Amtrak passenger rail service was suspended between Pontiac and Detroit, about 20 miles apart. Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said passengers will be shuttled between the cities by charter bus.
"I saw it burning out of the office window. It's been burning since about 11 o'clock. There were a couple of pops, three pops now," said Tom Lijana, who works at an office about 300 yards from the plant. He said his company, the Bing Group, hadn't been told to evacuate as of about 12:20 p.m.
Residents were evacuated for about a half-mile around the fire, said Kevin Kondrat, executive director of the Hamtramck Housing Commission. That included a nearby complex of 36 buildings containing 300 apartments and some 700 to 800 residents, though Kondrat said not all were home at the time of the blaze.
"The evacuation went very, very, very smooth," he said.
Lutalo Sephers, 34, said police used loud speakers on his street to tell residents to evacuate.
"I've lived here over 30 years and this is the first time that we've ever seen anything like this," Sephers said.
An evacuation center was set up at a nearby senior center, Kondrat said, with water available for evacuees. Abnout 15 or 20 people had arrived by about 1 p.m.
The plant is in an industrial area with several small factories, and workers from nearby businesses paused to watch the blaze.
Robert McCann, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, said Sterling Services Ltd. has no history of violations with the state.
The company is registered as a bulk petroleum facility that stores large quantities of gasoline or other fuels, he said.
State or federal environmental officials will monitor air quality at the scene, McCann said.
Sterling Services is a subsidiary of Southfield-based Sterling Oil & Chemical Co. Inc., according to a company Web site. The Hamtramck facility is on more than five acres and has a storage capacity of about 5 million gallons.
___
Associated Press writers David Grant in Hamtramck and David Aguilar, David N. Goodman, Jeff Karoub, Ben Leubsdorf and Ed White in Detroit contributed to this story.
(This version CORRECTS that the expressway has not been closed.)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090827/ap_on_re_us/us_chemical_fire_hamtramck