Warsaw Chemical, site of Friday fire, had been cited for unsafe storage

Since 2006, federal environmental inspectors have at least twice found hazardous or flammable chemicals stored in an unsafe manner at a Northern Indiana chemical plant where a large fire erupted Friday in an adjacent chemical-storage building.

Fumes from Friday's fire at Warsaw Chemical Co. forced the evacuation of 50 homes and sent at least seven people to the hospital as a precaution after they complained of burning eyes and lungs.

State natural resources officers estimate that several thousand gallons of water from firefighters' hoses mixed with chemicals, mostly methanol, washed into Winona Lake, a popular recreation spot on the southeast edge of Warsaw, a city of 13,559 people in Kosciusko County.

Larry Flory, owner of Fletcher's Bait & Tackle in Warsaw, said the chemicals were so strong that they melted about a third of the ice on one side of the 562-acre lake. He said ice fishermen who ventured out on the opposite side of the spill found dead bluegill and other fish floating inside the holes they drilled.

"The chemicals are pretty bad," he said.

The chemical company, which employs about 80 people, makes a line of car wash cleaners. Warsaw is about 40 miles southeast of South Bend.

An Indianapolis Star review of state and federal environmental enforcement records shows that federal inspectors had noted as recently as 2012 that chemicals were being inappropriately stored at the facility, putting it at risk of a potential fire or spill.

But plant manager Vic Gamble said Monday that such issues "were all corrected at the time," and no other enforcement actions are pending.

He said the problems noted by federal inspectors did not contribute to Friday's fire, which destroyed what's known as the "bulk plant" storage building behind Warsaw Chemical's main facility.

He said the cause of the fire is under investigation. Mike Brubaker, chief of the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory, didn't respond to a message seeking comment.

In 2007, the company entered into a $60,934 settlement agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency stemming from numerous problems with hazardous or flammable chemicals stored on site.

The agreement says that during a 2006 inspection, the EPA found that the company was storing some chemicals in unmarked containers, flammable waste drums were left open, and 51 containers of hazardous flammable waste were stacked in 55-gallon drums without enough space between them to "allow the unobstructed movement" of fire protection, spill control and decontamination equipment and personnel.

The inspectors also noted problems with Warsaw's emergency response plans and training.

At the time, the facility generated more than 2,200 pounds of hazardous waste a month, but EPA records indicate that since the 2006 inspection, Warsaw discontinued producing lacquer thinner. It now produces much less waste.

But, six years later, an EPA inspector returned to the site for a follow-up inspection and noted problems that led to another violation notice.

The EPA inspector in 2012 found several waste containers that were either unmarked or left open, according to EPA records.

In one part of the plant, the inspector found several containers containing "unidentified material" outside, next to a building.

"Warsaw was not aware of what this material actually was," wrote Jamie Paulin, an EPA chemist who performed the inspection.

Paulin also noted that "hazardous constituents" were being stored on the floor underneath a wastewater treatment unit, and the corrosion from the material had caused "significant damage" to the floor and to a grated pit below.

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management inspected the facility in 2013 and noted some minor problems that included improper labeling of containers. But Amy Smith, an IDEM spokeswoman, said the agency determined the material wasn't hazardous and the company quickly complied with IDEM's demands, so it was deemed back in compliance.

Friday's fire began around 11 a.m. Police Lt. Kip Shuter said the fire shut down three main roads on the east side of town.

Shuter said firefighters worked for nearly three hours to contain the blaze as explosions could be heard inside the storage facility.

"The guys that went in the initial attack were pulled back because of the chemicals and because of the heat," Shuter said.

He said five waste water treatment workers and two firefighters complained of burning eyes and lungs. The wastewater treatment workers had been called to try to stop the flow into storm drains.

Shuter said no one was seriously hurt and each of the victims was released from the hospital after being checked out by doctors.

One Warsaw Chemical employee suffered a small cut on his finger from grabbing a fire extinguisher, but his injury was so minor that he was able to return to work to finish his shift, said Gamble, the plant manager.

Meanwhile, the Department of Natural Resources says a Fort Wayne environmental cleanup crew was called in with large air compressors to pump oxygen into Winona Lake to try to evaporate the contaminants that had washed in.

In a DNR photo, the ice ringing the water in one part of the lake appeared stained a bright green and blue. In the photo, a flock of Canada geese stood on the ice nearby.

Noting that the chemicals significantly thinned the ice, the DNR urged anglers not to venture out on it because they might fall through. The DNR also urged them not to eat any fish from the lake until their toxicity could be assessed.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Call Star reporter Ryan Sabalow at (317) 444-6179. Follow him on Twitter: @RyanSabalow.