The fire is likely accidental, he said. State fire marshal investigators were on scene, attempting to determine a cause.
The Bethel Twp. firefighter who suffered a leg injury battling the blaze was released from Springfield Regional Medical Center and has returned to full duty, said King. All 15 employees of R.D. Holder were accounted for.
At 7:30 p.m, crews were still on scene using heavy equipment and suppression fluids to put out hotspots.
Thursday night, officials were using vacuum equipment and other techniques to remove any environmental contaminants from a nearby stream, King said. Contaminants are contained to the immediate area.
It's believed the aquifer was protected. There are many wells in the rural area.
"We pushed hard to protect the environment," King said. "We should have things back to normal in a couple days."
Michelle Simmons, environmental manager for the City of Dayton Water Department, said her department recommended that the Mad River intakes be closed overnight as a precaution, even though the Ohio EPA does not expect any impact to the Mad River surface water from runoff.
“They expect minimal impact where our intakes are,” she said. Any possible runoff will have passed the water supply intakes by morning, she said Thursday evening.
After nearly six hours, the massive blaze at the company northwest of Springfield has been declared under control and an advisory to remain indoors has been lifted.
It’s now safe for residents and farm animals to be outdoors.
More than 50 agencies responded to battle the blaze that sent flames as high as 200 feet into the air and black smoke that could be seen for miles. Some reports indicated the plume could be seen as far away as Butler County.
About 160 customers in the area of Jordan Detrick Pike and Folk Ream Road also were without power for a second time as FirstEnergy crews shut off the electricity so firefighters are better able to move equipment, said Tim Suter of FirstEnergy.
A typical house fire doubles in size every minute, King said, but a fire with oil products involved will double every 20 seconds.
Some surrounding homes were evacuated and people with farm animals were advised to keep them away.
Ohio Environmental Protection Agency officials at the scene determined that oil spilled into a waterway near the plant, propelled by runoff of water used in fighting the blaze, said spokeswoman Heather Lauer.
Veolia Environmental Services of Dayton was cleaning oil out of the unnamed tributary of Donnels Creek, the east fork of which is 250 feet west of the facility, Lauer said.
She said the tributary was “running orange-red.” The company had booms in the tributary to try to stop the flow of the oil.
She said the OEPA had no records of any prior environmental problems at the plant. “They have no permits with us, (but) I don’t know that they need permits with us.”
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration also has no record of problems at the plant, according to Jim Denton of OSHA’s Cincinnati office.
King said that once the flames are extinguished, crews will need to do a major haz-mat cleanup.
Multiple loud booms and smaller explosions could be heard throughout the day and large mushrooms of flames followed. Soot and ash rained down cross the scene.
Springfield fire Chief Nick Heimlich said the fire started at about 11 a.m. with a truck and spread to a warehouse and other buildings, causing a structure collapse.
After about 45 minutes, firefighters ordered first responders and company employees back as the massive blaze spread through out the building. Transformers exploded and electric lines fell on the scene about 12:45 p.m., forcing firefighters back even more. And as the fire spread, the building began to collapse.
Company owner Bob Holder said company crews were loading up a tractor trailer when it caught fire, but it’s unclear why it started. He wasn’t sure of the quantity of products on site when the blaze began, but said it was only lubricants. Holder supplies local farmers, trucking companies, school buses and parts manufacturers.
Clark County Health Commissioner Charles Patterson said his agency is working closely with incident commanders on the scene, as well as the Regional Air Pollution Control Agency. He said staff members from the health district were collecting information about the incident, including what chemicals or other materials were involved in the fire.
Brian Huxtable, of the Regional Air Pollution Control Agency, said to avoid the smoke if at all possible.
“Consider it like a house fire,” Huxtable said. “You wouldn’t want to breathe that in.”
But as far as he knows, it’s not a serious inhalation hazard. “I think you’re going to be OK” if you come in contact with the smoke, Huxtable said. “It may cause coughing. ... Just try to avoid going out in it.”
People with prior breathing problems like asthma would probably be affected most, he said.
Firefighters trucked water to the site, including from Northwestern schools and a North Hampton water tower. Some people in the area with ponds and lagoons offered water as firefighters were using five to six gallons of water a minute, King said.
Clark County Department of Utilities Deputy Director Chuck Bauer said they did not receive any complaints from residents or fire crews in the area about issues with water pressure. He also said there has been no need to divert water to the area.
Allen Jones, superintendent of Springfield’s water treatment plant, said firefighters came to Springfield’s distribution district and filled tankers with water from the city’s hydrants. He said it was not uncommon for local fire departments to use the city’s hydrants if needed.
Kelly Phares of 2300 Folk Ream Road lives across from the scene of the fire.
“I heard some pops and literally my house shook,” she said. “I’m concerned that something could fly over, but we don’t have any trees or anything (that would catch fire).”
Katey Willis lives at 2400 Folk Ream Road and said black debris from the fire is in her yard.
“I just happened to look outside because I thought it was just getting cloudy,” she said. “I saw (the fire) before the fire trucks got here. It’s pretty scary.”
Officials were concerned about the potential for explosions. There were countless large explosions during the first several hours of the fire — a large boom followed by a ball of flame and a heat wave that spread across the area.
R.D. Holder workers removed servers and boxes from the front part of the building before fire spread to that area.
Chief Meteorologist Jamie Simpson said the massive fire was detected on the Live Doppler 7 HD radar throughout the day. “Radars detect all sorts of things in the air, not just rain drops and snowflakes. So when we have a dense concentration of smoke, sometimes we can detect that with radar as well,” Simpson said.
That was the case with Live Doppler 7 HD through midday.
“One thing I noticed,” he said, “... the smoke plume did not move far from the site of the fire. That was not surprising to me because the winds were nearly calm in that vicinity.
“This really is a blessing, because stronger winds would have spread the danger of smoke farther away which would have affected many more people,” he said.
Northwestern Local Schools dismissed early on the advice of emergency crews. The district dismissed in two stages, said Superintendent Tony Orr. Middle and high school students dismissed first, to be followed by elementary students.
All evening activities were cancelled and ventilation closed at the schools.