Tuesday’s fire at a railroad siding near Chadbourn is still under investigation, but may have been caused by spontaneous combustion.
Firefighters were called to the commercial property near the intersection of Grice and Braswell roads at 1:30 p.m. Multiple agencies were immediately requested, including the regional hazardous material team from Wilmington and the N.C. Forest Service. Whiteville’s drone team was also deployed to help map the fire.
Units from Acme-Delco-Riegelwood, Tabor City, Whiteville, and multiple other fire departments responded. A dike was erected around the fire scene to reduce runoff.
Tax records show the property is owned by County Commissioner Giles “Buddy” Byrd and Rufus Young, and leased to Sigma Solutions and Consulting, LLC.
Sigma’s business license in North Carolina was revoked in 2018 by the Secretary of State’s office, but the LLC is listed in good standing with the South Carolina Secretary of State. The license was revoked in North Carolina for “failure to file an annual report.”
County Fire Marshal Shannon Blackman said the company cleans railroad tank cars, mixing the cleanout material with mulch to make it a solid, which is then disposed of in a hazardous waste facility.
“The fire started in an area where they weren’t even working,” he said. “We believe it might have started with spontaneous combustion in the mulch. They had some rain around Chadbourn this weekend, and the conditions were right for spontaneous combustion. We don’t know yet.”
Organic mulch can spontaneously combust due to high heat conditions — such as yesterday’s 100 degree temperatures — and pressure.
Several tank cars on the site that were not marked, Blackman and investigators are trying to determine exactly what they contain. Federal and state regulators, including personnel from the Environmental Protection Agency and state Water Quality, are on the scene today.
Blackman said in addition to multiple fire departments, state Emergency Management, county Emergency Services, the Fire Marshal and other agencies responded.
Firefighters that the smoke had a smell similar to Lysol. One firefighter was taken to an area hospital with heat exhaustion, but no other injuries were reported.
