By HEATHER PYLES, Staff Writer
Somerset — Waste Connections employ-ees were counting their blessings Tuesday after a quick-burning fire sprang up at the facility and drew no fewer than eight fire depart-ments to fight the stubborn flames.
Manager Rodney Turner said the fire began at around 5 p.m., when operations were shutting down for the day. According to Turner, an em-ployee mentioned that something smelled strange while parking a trailer behind the building, located on Shane’s Lane off Ky. 914.
The employee decided to trace the smell, but it was too late. The material that spark-ed the fire “went up,” according to Turner.
“Within three to five minutes, it was all on fire in there,” Turner said.
The fire occurred at around 5 p.m., and luckily, no one was injured in the blaze. The Waste Connections facility employs more than 20 people, mostly drivers who run res-idential and commercial pick-up services, according to Pulaski County Solid Waste Coordinator Gerald Hines.
Hines said he rushed over to Waste Connections as soon as he was informed about the blaze, and he said a major section of the building was already fully engulfed by the time he arrived.
The office section of the building appeared to be relatively unscathed by the fire, but the rest of the facility was heavily damaged.
The fire drew an audience of bystanders, many of whom parked on the shoulder of Ky. 914 to watch the incident unfold.
Numerous fire departments were called on to bring water to the site throughout the evening.
Turner said waste will not be accepted at the facility “until we can get an assessment of how much damage was done.”
Turner and Hines also stated that the PRIDE (Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment) free waste disposal days, set for April 10 and 24, will be postponed until further notice. The Ky. 914 facility serves as the collection site for the annual event, which normally brings in thousands of tons of waste.
“They’ve got a lot of restoration and rebuilding to do and it’ll cause a lot of hardship on waste collections,” Hines said.
Turner and Hines both emphasized that residential, commercial and roll-off waste collection will continue unaffected while the waste connections facility is rebuilt. Hines said the City of Somerset is stepping in to assist in collecting the waste.
“The county appreciates them (the City of Somerset) on that effort,” Hines said.
Personnel with the fire departments were on-site fighting the flames well into Tuesday evening.
Those fire departments responding to the blaze were the Somerset Fire Department, Tateville Volunteer Fire Department, Ferguson Volunteer Fire Department, Haynes Knob Volunteer Fire Department, Parkers Mill Volunteer Fire Department, Bronston Volunteer Fire Department, Burnside Volunteer Fire Department, and White Lily Volunteer Fire Department. The State Fire Marshal’s Office, Pulaski County Public Safety Office and Somerset-Pulaski County EMS were also on the scene.
