MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — A fire that broke out in an isolated section of the Entsorga plant in Martinsburg altered service, but the plant is getting back to full operation this week.
The September 24 fire, which investigators believe was the result of spontaneous combustion, was contained to a small area, but the fire suppression foam that sprayed throughout the building had to be cleaned out of the equipment.
“The oversize pit – it’s literally a concrete shaft,” Berkeley County Solid Waste Authority Chairman Clint Hogbin explained on Monday’s Panhandle Live. “Material in that pit caught on fire, started to burn, and the fire suppression system across the whole building engaged and suppressed the fire.”
It slowed down operations at the Grapevine Road plant, but only temporarily.
“The amount of material going into Entsorga went way down. They continued to take all material from the town of Shepherdstown, all material from Allied. But Apple Valley was curtailed, basically turned away, for a couple, three weeks. Apple Valley, as of today is back to hauling to Entsorga. The goal is everything that they pick up on the curb that is eligible for fuel will go to Entsorga.”
Hogbin says a conveyor belt needed to be replaced, but no one was injured.
Entsorga has been on line since March. It is the first of its kind waste-to-fuel processing plant in the nation.
Story by Marsha Chwalik/Panhandle News Network