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| The Bay Area Air Quality Management District issued two notices of violation to Sims Metal Management for public nuisance and an illegal burning operation. There was no information about what penalties would be assessed.
Meanwhile, a press release from the Contra Costa County Health Service Department seemed to studiously avoid providing any useful information, including actual concentrations measured for particulates and benzene or actual danger involved.
Air samples taken by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District at Sims in close proximity to the fire found a high presence of benzene, a known carcinogen. While long-term exposure to benzene can cause cancer, the health impacts of short-term exposure to the levels found during the fire are not known, said CCHS Environmental Health Director Dr. Marilyn Underwood.
Both the air district and CCHS' Hazardous Materials Response Team measured high particulate readings throughout the night. Smoke particulates can irritate the throat, lungs and eyes, particularly in those with pre-existing lung disease, such as asthma. Very fine particulates can get into the blood stream.
Dr. Underwood professes not to know what the short term effects of exposure to benzene are, but the Center for Disease Control does.
Immediate signs and symptoms of exposure to benzene
- People who breathe in high levels of benzene may develop the following signs and symptoms within minutes to several hours:
- Drowsiness
- Dizziness
- Rapid or irregular heartbeat
- Headaches
- Tremors
- Confusion
- Unconsciousness
- Death (at very high levels)
- Eating foods or drinking beverages containing high levels of benzene can cause the following symptoms within minutes to several hours:
- Vomiting
- Irritation of the stomach
- Dizziness
- Sleepiness
- Convulsions
- Rapid or irregular heartbeat
- Death (at very high levels)
- If a person vomits because of swallowing foods or beverages containing benzene, the vomit could be sucked into the lungs and cause breathing problems and coughing.
- Direct exposure of the eyes, skin, or lungs to benzene can cause tissue injury and irritation.
- Showing these signs and symptoms does not necessarily mean that a person has been exposed to benzene.
An East Bay Times story quoted Randy Sawyer, Chief Environmental Health and Hazards for CCHS that benzene levels reached as high as 318 parts per billion, which sounds high, but he thinks otherwise.
Health officials become concerned when benzene levels top 8 to 12 parts per billion in air samples. At the scene of the fire, levels reached as high as 318 parts per billion as the fire raged, but levels around the community did not top 22 to 23 parts per billion.
Randy Sawyer, Chief Environmental Health and Hazards for CCHS, noted that, for comparison, pumping gasoline exposes an individual to benzene levels in parts per million, which is over three times the amount found at the scene of the fire.
No one is talking about the actual quantities of the high levels of particulate matter in the smoke, and apparently there was no way of measuring any heavy metals.
Meanwhile, Sims Metal Management is in full damage control mode, calling for a “Town Hall Meeting.”
NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING REGARDING THE SIMS FIRE:
Sims Metal Management Town Hall Meeting
When: Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Time: 6pm - 8pm
Where: Nevin Community Center, 598 Nevin Ave. Richmond, CA
What: Sims Metal Management (SMM) invites the Richmond community to join their Regional President, Steve Shinn, for a Town Hall Meeting on Feb. 7, 2018. SMM will provide the community with the current information on the recent fire at the Richmond facility. You'll have an opportunity to ask questions and share your thoughts and concerns. Registration is not required. Light refreshments will be served.
Please direct any questions to Jill Rodby, Sims Metal Management:
Email jill.rodby@simsmm.com or call (510) 374-0329.
And finally, thanks to Genevieve Pastor-Cohen (Genevieve_Pastor-Cohen@ci.richmond.ca.us), Richmond’s new emergency manager, I have discovered that Richmond has its own Twitter-based alert system separate from the Contra Costa County CWS.
To sign up for the @RFDCAOnline distribution list, you can:
- Go to our City of Richmond Fire OES page. And, click on the light blue box with “Follow @rfdcaonline” or,
- Visit Twitter.com and sign-up. Then, in the “search box” type “Richmond Ca” and the various Twitter feeds with that name appears and you make your selection.
There are 7,500 people who received the RFD alerts about the Sims fire via Twitter. RFD Twitter followers include: News media (ABC, CBS, NBC, KPIX, KTVU, Telemondo, City of Richmond Free Radio, KGO, KQED, East Bay Times, photojournalists), businesses, community members and more. It is very possible that these entities retweeted to spread the word. Example: The Pt. Richmond Neighborhood CERT Team Leader retweeted several of the RFD tweets which worked very well and was praised by several of the CERT Team Leaders in the area.
The information below contains Tweets sent by the Richmond Fire Department on January 30th through 31st listed by the most recent activity. In addition, working in tandem with the Richmond Police Department (RPD), RPD sent updated information through their social media platforms.
To clarify the table labels:
- Impressions: the number of times users saw our tweets on Twitter
- Engagement: total number of times users interactive with the tweet. This includes all clicks anywhere on the tweet, retweets, replies, follows, and likes.
- Engagement rate: the percentage of engagements divided by impressions.
Richmond Launches Review of Metal Yard That Went Up in Flames
A plume of smoke rises from Sims Metal Management in Richmond. (Bay Area Air Quality Management District)
By Ted Goldberg February 5, 2018
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Update, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 11:20 a.m.
Local air regulators announced Tuesday that they are issuing two notices of violation against the company that runs the large scrap metal facility in Richmond that was the scene of a smoky fire that forced thousands of residents to stay indoors last week.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has handed down penalties against the Sims Metal Management facility for illegal open burning and public nuisance.
Agency officials emphasize that they are still investigating the incident and any penalties tied to the case will be levied in the future.
Meantime, Richmond city officials have begun to scrutinize the Sims facility
The city’s Planning and Building Department will review whether Sims is complying with rules governing its work near the Port of Richmond, according to Richard Mitchell, the department’s director.
“Staff is in the process of assembling information related to the recycling facility to determine if the operation is in compliance with the original conditions of approval,” Mitchell said in an email Monday.
The planning department’s review of Sims’ conditional use permit was prompted by a request from Richmond Mayor Tom Butt
“Sims has a sordid history,” Butt said, referring to the company’s Redwood City facility burned by fires several years ago. “I want to reopen all of this and look into it.”
The company has apologized for the fire and pledged to consider making safety changes at its Richmond location, which reopened on Thursday.
“We will look at any improvements to reduce the risk of fires at this facility, including a focus on stockpile size, improving fire breaks, and the use of technology to monitor stockpiles,” said Sims spokeswoman Jill Rodby.
“We will continue to be a valuable member of the community, and we will maintain our rigorous standards,” Rodby said.
The fire raises questions about how Richmond should regulate land used by industry so close to residential neighborhoods, said Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia, who has been involved in the county’s oversight of Richmond’s Chevron refinery.
Sims’ South Fourth Street facility is near several locations that were under the county’s shelter-in-place orders.
“We want all operators at the port to be acting responsibly, but is this the right use to have at that location?” Gioia asked.
Word of the Richmond Planning Department’s review comes several days after Contra Costa County health officials revealed that air samples taken during the fire, which took place for at least 11 hours between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, showed high levels of the carcinogen benzene near the blaze.
Long-term exposure to benzene can cause cancer. But county health officials emphasized that the health impacts of short-term exposure that were detected Tuesday night are not known.
The last time the facility violated hazardous materials regulations was in October 2012, according to Contra Costa County inspection reports obtained by KQED.
They included hazardous waste material containers that were mislabeled and not always closed, an undercharged fire extinguisher and bins blocking the facility’s aisles. The four violations discovered in that inspection were all corrected.
The county’s hazardous materials program found no violations during a subsequent inspection in late 2014. The agency plans to conduct a new inspection of Sims in the next month or so, according to Randy Sawyer, Contra Costa’s chief environmental health and hazardous materials officer.
The last fire inspection of the facility came in 2015, and it found no violations, according to Fire Chief Adrian Sheppard. Richmond fire investigators have yet to reveal a cause of the blaze.
Sims, in the meantime, is inviting members of the public to a town hall meeting Wednesday night to discuss the fire and the facility.
That meeting is scheduled to take place at Nevin Community Center between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.
This post was updated Tuesday morning to include new information from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District about notices of violation it issued against Sims Metal Management.
Sims Metal to host town hall to discuss Jan. 30 fire
http://richmondstandard.com/2018/02/06/sims-metal-to-host-town-hall-to-discuss-jan-30-fire/
February 6, 2018
Nevin Community Center.
Sims Metal Management is holding a town hall on Wednesday, Feb. 7 in order to have a conversation with residents about the Jan. 30 fire at its Richmond metal recycling facility.
Sims Metal Regional President Steve Shinn is set to attend the town hall, which will run from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Nevin Community Center, 598 Nevin Ave. Registration is not required. Residents will learn current information about the fire and have an opportunity to ask questions and share concerns, according to city and company officials.
On Tuesday, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District said it issued Sims Metal a public nuisance violation and an illegal open burning violation in connection with the fire that burned for about 11 hours at 600 S. 4th St. The fire sent up plumes of black smoke and prompted shelter-in-place orders in area neighborhoods due to the poor air quality.
Image posted by Mariana Hdez to the Richmond Standard Facebook page.
Air quality tests during the fire revealed elevated levels of the carcinogen benzene and smoke particulates near the fire scene and by an air monitor near Point Richmond, according to Contra Costa Health Services.
“The Air District is continuing to investigate this incident for all potential air quality violations in collaboration with Contra Costa County Health Services and other agencies,” said Jack Broadbent, executive officer of the Air District.
Fines and penalties are under review and will be levied on a future date, according to the air district.
Air tests show benzene detected after smoky Richmond scrapyard fire
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2018/02/02/air-tests-show-benzene-detected-after-smoky-richmond-scrapyard-fire/
By Aaron Davis | aarondavis@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: February 2, 2018 at 4:44 pm | UPDATED: February 3, 2018 at 5:43 am
RICHMOND — Air quality tests from a metal scrapyard fire this week were released on Friday and showed elevated levels of benzene, a chemical known to cause cancer and to damage the central nervous system.
Smoke is seen coming from the Sims Metal Management property in this view from Cutting Boulevard as a scrap metal fire burns Richmond, on Tuesday, Jan. 30. Smoke was visible for miles and authorities warned residents to stay indoors. (Courtesy of Henna Papineau)
The Contra Costa Health Services Department released the test results from air samples that showed the higher levels of benzene taken around Point Richmond after the large fire Tuesday night at Sims Metal Management.
Health officials become concerned when benzene levels top 8 to 12 parts per billion in air samples. At the scene of the fire, levels reached as high as 318 parts per billion as the fire raged, but levels around the community did not top 22 to 23 parts per billion.
Randy Sawyer, Chief Environmental Health and Hazards for CCHS, noted that, for comparison, pumping gasoline exposes an individual to benzene levels in parts per million, which is over three times the amount found at the scene of the fire.
“The question is really prolonged exposure to that level that would increase people’s risk for long-term effects,” Sawyer said.
Contra Costa Health officials said that samples taken in North Richmond, Atchison Village and fenceline monitors at the Chevron Refinery did not show elevated readings of benzene or any other chemicals that were analyzed.
The two-alarm fire broke out at 5:08 p.m. on Tuesday at the Sims Metal scrapyard at 600 S. Fourth Street. Fire crews on scene arrived to find a 20-foot pile of metal on fire and fought the blaze for 10 hours, finally getting extinguished at 4 a.m.. The fire prompted a call to shelter-in-place for anyone in the area due to the heavy smoke that permeated the area.
There were no reported injuries from the fire or the smoke, officials said. The cause of the fire is still unknown.
Dr. David Goldstein, deputy health officer for CCHS, said that they do not know what the long-term health impacts from the fire will be and encouraged anyone to contact their healthcare provider if they are concerned about the health effects.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District continues to investigate the incident and whether Sims Metal Management will face fines.
“I’ve been told that the particulate matter level were at levels similar to the Napa and Sonoma fires. Clearly it was difficult to breath and had an impact on people with respiratory issues,” said Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia.
Sims Metal Management will hold a town hall meeting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 7 at the Nevin Community Center at 598 Nevin Avenue. |
