Nov. 09--A massive fire that engulfed three connected buildings at the former Bethlehem Steel plant started Wednesday morning when a light bulb fell onto some combustibles, according to a Lackawanna official.
The fire at the facility, the size of which is equivalent to about six city blocks, started around 7 a.m. Its rising black smoke could be seen from miles away and has disrupted traffic and activity at area schools.
"It's a big facility. There's a lot of fire. There's a lot of things burning," Buffalo Fire Commissioner Garnell W. Whitfield Jr. said. "We don't know what's inside the building."
Fred K. Heinle, director of development for Lackawanna, told reporters at the scene a "hot light bulb" fell, sparking the blaze when it came into contact with combustible materials.
In addition to more than 100 firefighters called to the scene, the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives sent representatives to the scene.
Air quality in the area is being monitored, Heinle said. "I can't imagine that it's very good," he said.
The owner of the building, Great Lakes Industrial Development, said in a news release the fire damaged space occupied by Industrial Materials Recycling, a company it said recycles post-industrial plastics.
The fire was discovered at about 7 a.m. after employees of Industrial Materials Recycling held a daily safety inspection, walk-through and staff meeting before beginning operations, Great Lakes Industrial Development said.
Other tenants at the site include what the company described as "a mix of light manufacturing, logistics, storage and steel supply businesses."
Great Lakes officials said they do not know the source or cause of the fire. The extent of the damage has not been determined, the company said.
Residents on Lincoln Avenue, off of Route 5, were being asked by police to leave their homes because police fear the building will collapse. Hamburg police are reporting falling, burning debris across the town and urging residents to keep doors and windows closed. Authorities are urging residents from Lackawanna to Athol Springs to shelter in place, including those in Hamburg and Lake Shore, Buffalo police said on Twitter.
The fire inside the complex continues to burn and is not "under control," Whitfield said around 10:15 a.m.
No injuries have been reported.
"Much of the building has already collapsed," the fire commissioner said.
Route 5 is closed to traffic between Ridge Road and Lake Avenue, according to the Niagara International Transportation Technology Coalition.
A number of explosions could be heard coming from inside the building before the roof collapsed. An employee told a News reporter the first started around 7 a.m.
Russell Dailey lives on Pine Street, just north of the fire scene. He was leaving home with his wife as he drove her to work.
"As soon as we came outside, we saw the black smoke," Dailey said. "God only knows what's in there. Probably asbestos lining the walls."
By the time he was headed back home, police had blocked off part of Route 5. "I had to park my car on the other side of the First Ward," he said. He walked home from near Smoke Creek.
A Madison Street resident, who declined to give his name, said he and his wife were in bed when the fire began. "Our bedroom is upstairs and we could see it starting," the man said.
They closed their windows and turned off the furnace so smoke wouldn't enter their house. The wind is blowing south toward Woodlawn. "We got lucky with the wind here," he said.
Neighbors said one of the buildings is used for a storage business and contains items including cars, boats, RVs and personal watercraft.
A sign on a fence at the fire scene advertises winter storage. A reporter who called a phone number on the sign reached the voicemail of Dr. Bob's Storage, which identifies its location as on the former Bethlehem Steel site.
Buffalo firefighters responded to the scene as mutual aid.
"This thing is massive," a fire official said over the scanner.
Lackawanna fire officials have asked for a haz mat team from Buffalo to respond to the scene, according to radio traffic.
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