Miami-Dade officials, EPA detail where Doral stands on Day 7 of the trash plant fire
The Doral trash fire at the Covanta incinerator plant entered its seventh day on Saturday, two days after an Environmental Protection Agency monitoring report noted “unhealthy levels” and led county officials to suggest the limiting of outdoor activities and the early closing of two nearby schools on Friday.
READ MORE: Doral smoke from trash fire hit ‘unhealthy’ levels, according to EPA monitoring report
Saturday afternoon, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and Doral Mayor Christi Fraga led a webinar to bring residents up to date on the fire’s status at the plant, 6990 NW 97th Ave.
Air quality, particularly carbon dioxide levels, which can be more of a health risk than particulates like non-toxic dust or ash, has steadily improved to the “moderate to good range,” according to an EPA official.
The fire is now smoldering and largely contained to a labyrinthine portion of a southeast building, the fire chief said.
Cava and Levine also fielded questions on whether the plant would be rebuilt on-site or moved outside of Doral, as Fraga desires.
Among those participating in the online discussion: Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Raied “Ray” Jadallahl; Matthew Huyser, of the Environmental Protection Agency, who has been assigned to the Doral fire; Miami-Dade County Public Schools Vice Chair Danny Espino; Dr. Chris Ghaemmaghami, MD, executive vice president and chief clinical officer at Jackson Health System; and, Rashid Istambouli, Miami-Dade’s DERM director.
▪ Firefighters gained greater access to the fire because of the tearing down of walls. The facility has 11 separate buildings connected as a labyrinth. “Right now we have the fire basically smoldering and in one final building,” Judallah said. That portion, off 97th Avenue, is the trash pit at the southeast area, one of the bigger buildings in the facility, he said. Most of the walls are down in the seventh day.
“We’ve made some significant headway in the last 24 hours since we’ve knocked down the walls yesterday. We do have a few walls that are still standing up on the south side but it is a challenge for the structural engineers on site. We have to take into consideration the adjacent structure that it’s attached to. However, as a result of the building walls coming down, we have been able to reposition our fire trucks to utilize the aerial devices.”
Smoldering trash is doused with water and hoisted into dump trucks. How long it will take to clear the smoldering trash? No timeline, Judallah said, hoping within the next few days.
▪ Root cause of the fire? Still to be determined, Judallah said, an investigation that could take a couple more weeks.
▪ Air quality improves. “Things like dust or ash in the air are not, in and of themselves, toxic substances. The EPA has been reporting on things like carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, sulfur dioxide. The levels of those have been very, very low and would put us into basically what is considered the good air quality range,” Ghaemmaghami said.
The particulates from Saturday morning’s air monitoring report have been in the good to moderate range, Huyser said.
Cava and Gaemmaghami still recommend that those who have preexisting respiratory or cardiac conditions, or young children and older adults, or pregnant women who are in proximity to the plant, should stay indoors, use air conditioning and wear masks if outside in the area, especially for those living between Northwest 74th Street and Northwest 92nd Street, and Northwest 92nd Avenue to Northwest 112th Avenue.
▪ Environmental impact. “Site operations ensure that there are no impacts to any of the environmental resources, especially the groundwater and the surface waters outside of the site itself,” Istambuli said.
▪ Schools situation. Still evaluating, Espino said. A decision on whether nearby Ronald Reagan Senior High School and Andrea Castillo Preparatory Academy will resume activities on Tuesday will be made Monday, which is Presidents’ Day when public schools are not in session.
▪ Parks situation. Doral Glades Park remained closed Saturday. Doral Legacy Park reopened Saturday.
▪ Move the plant? That’s what Fraga and some residents said they seek.
“Obviously this plant is not operational,” Cava said. “We do not know at this time what it would take to get the plant restarted.” Placing a new plant elsewhere is one of the considerations as a long term option but there is no information on whether this will happen at this time.
“Obviously right now our biggest concern is making sure that the fire gets put out so that there’s no more smoke emission into our community and those effects quickly subside,” Fraga said. “There is a long term concern and I get this every day from our residents, especially now ... as the city has grown Doral’s position is we don’t want it in our community. We are advocating for that on behalf of our residents for it to be moved. But this is a long term conversation,” she said.
