7/5/2023 0 Comments Newsfire review![]() The tire lot owners also were fined civil penalties of $339,850. The court also ordered Foster & Porter to keep the piles from reaching beyond 15 feet tall. The TCEQ sent the case to the Texas Attorney General’s Office.Ī judge ruled against the owners in December, ordering Foster and Porter to move tons of tires from the site, spray for mosquitoes, cut vegetation growing in the tire lot, build a chain link fence and add fire prevention measure.Īmong several concerns, regulators found a need to build fire lanes between the high piles of tires. Regulators from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality began investigating the facility about three years ago and when lot owners Foster & Porter, LLC failed to remove the tires. The tires, which occupy more than an acre, were meant to be recycled, Selman said. The fire at Foster & Son’s Scrap Tire Service was being investigated as arson, Randell said. Hawkins schools and Jarvis Christian College were ordered to close. Two shelters were set up near the town, including one at a Big Sandy church where some 25 families went, Selman said. Officials went door-to-door telling residents to leave and a local nursing home was evacuated, Hawkins police Lt. Most residents were urged to evacuate the town of about 1,500 located about 100 miles east of Dallas. The fire spans an area of about 300 by 500 feet near a residential street, he said. That way we’re able to fight smaller fires," Delgado said. "We’re breaking up the pieces into smaller sections. ![]() Firefighters were expected to work overnight to quell the blaze by Wednesday morning, said Eric Delgado, the Environmental Protection Agency’s on-scene coordinator. Heavy equipment was being used Tuesday afternoon to smother the fire. "It’s contained to one area … but it’s still burning vigorously," he said. Rain poured down over the burning tires Tuesday morning, helping firefighting efforts, said Wood County Emergency Management Coordinator Randy Selman. There were no reports of injuries involving the estimated 150,000 tires ablaze at the site containing millions of tires.įirefighters did not have enough water and foam to extinguish the fire, so they were digging a ditch to smolder the flames with dirt. Thousands of tires that state officials ordered removed years ago were burning in an abandoned East Texas lot Tuesday, giving off a toxic black smoke that forced the evacuation of the small town of Hawkins and closed down its schools.
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