Investigation continues on the Crown Recycling Facility fire

It has been a week since a fire erupted at Crown Recycling Facility in Calverton, and as the Suffolk County Arson Squad’s investigation into its cause continues, questions remain as to how the devastating blaze has possibly impacted the water and air quality in the area.

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation spokespeople provided an update to the News-Review this week as to where the agency is at in its investigation of the site.

A multiple-building fire broke out at around 2 a.m. Wednesday, June 4, at 472 Youngs Ave. in Calverton, destroying four structures on the property. Almost 12 hours later, the flames were almost fully contained by the 250 first responders who showed up to the scene. The responders were from collective 35 different agencies, including 26 fire departments, EMS personnel and volunteer ambulances.

Crown Recycling Facility recycles scrap metal, such as stainless steel, wire, motors, radiators, batteries, lead, tin, steel, nickel, zinc, computers and electronic scrap; and disposes of solid waste and demolition debris, according to its website. It has serviced Suffolk County and the five boroughs of New York City for more than 30 years. It also works as a solid waste private charter to Riverhead Town and has the capacity of 825 tons per day of construction debris and 375 tons per day of solid waste, according to the town’s draft local solidarity waste management plan.

Residents in the area are still reeling from last week’s fire and recalled the uncertainly from that day. Tending her garden at the front of her driveway on Osborne Avenue one morning this week, Nora Mahoney said the fire smelled like plastic. She expressed concern about the possibility of asbestos in the recycled material.

“I wasn’t worried because we’re a mile away, but our water was brown, and no one told us that would happen,” Ms. Mahoney said. “If they had asbestos there, and it was burning, that would be a bad thing.”

Farther north on Osborne Avenue, the Rev. Mary Anne McElroy was sleeping when the fire erupted, and she said her granddaughter, Aysia, thought there was a fire in their house. She remembered watching nervously as several area departments pulled up outside their house to hook up to the hydrant.

“I smelled smoke, and it was coming in around the air conditioner,” the Rev. McElroy said. “I wanted to know what was going on, and they said just stay inside. It smelled like a brush fire — I’m glad it didn’t come this way.”

The NYSDEC conducted a preliminary report of the site, which found no signs of asbestos, according to previous reporting. However, at the time, Ryan McGarry, assistant regional director for the NYSDEC, said there would be a more final determination after a thorough investigation.

After the blaze simmered, the DEC’s spill response staff and an environmental conservation police officer responded immediately to identify and mitigate any off-site environmental impacts or potential impacts resulting from firefighting activities.

The day after the fire, a joint inspection of the facility was conducted by the DEC’s Division of Materials Management, Division of Environmental Remediation, Division of Law Enforcement, the Riverhead Town fire marshals and Suffolk County Department of Health.

The buildings housing incoming solid waste and processing activities were completely destroyed by the fire and were deemed unsafe by the town fire marshal at the time of the inspection, meaning the site is not allowed to be used, entered or occupied.

An initial inspection of the site was performed, as Mr. McGarry previously stated, however DEC spokespeople recently shared that due to ongoing hotspots from the fire and the waste piles outside of the facility, a complete inspection of the site was not possible. There was some construction and demolition debris, as well as municipal solid waste, stockpiled both inside and outdoors.

DMM staff directed the facility owners to remove and dispose of these materials within two weeks. Once the outdoor stockpiles are removed, a further investigation will be performed, DEC representatives said.

Additionally, Crown Recycling has a Part 360 Solid Waste Management Facility Permit, which allows them to conduct truck to truck transfers of asbestos-containing waste. The DEC’s Division of Materials Management staff confirmed with the facility owners that any activities related to asbestos-containing waste had not commenced and were not present during the fire or subsequent inspection.

Riverhead fire marshal Liam Keating said at a press conference on the day of the fire that there were no smoke detectors in the facility due to it being a pre-existing structure. Mr. Keating declined to comment on any outstanding violations or record of inspections of Crowns Recycling. The Riverhead News-Review filed a Freedom of Information Law Request through the Riverhead Town Clerk’s Office for these documents and received confirmation the request is under review.

In terms of known violations, the DEC entered into a consent order with Crown Recycling in 2018 for violations related to the storage of construction and demolition debris. This consent order required the facility to fund a DEC on-site environmental monitor to oversee compliance with the permit and consent order terms during operating hours.

Waste and recyclables that were previously disposed by Colucci Carting at Crown Sanitation will transported by Colucci to Winter Brothers in Brookhaven and North Fork Recycling in Mattituck, respectively, until further notice. Any curbside collection will be unaffected by the Crown Recycling fire, according to a recent Riverhead Town media release.

Information about any air pollutants from the fire is not available yet, but Frank Mancini, superintendent of the Riverhead Water District, said that the area is a former dumpsite, which has resulted in water contamination in the area unrelated to Crown Sanitation. Although the water district does not maintain wells or capture zones nearby, limited monitoring is done because of the former dump. But sampling is not done routinely. 

Mr. Mancini said he understands residents’ concerns, and noted that “the water district doesn’t remove any water from the ground over there because it’s previously impacted.” 

“That’s an area I would avoid as a water supplier,” he said. “It’s a terrible thing, but it happened in an old dump where the groundwater is already contaminated.”

In the near future, he mentioned there may be more internal conversations and a larger review with the Suffolk County Emergency Management Office to discuss how to be better prepared for these types of emergencies. 

Additional reporting by Deborah Wetzel.