AKRON, Ohio — As giant flames stretched towards the sky and thick, black smoke billowed over East Akron on the afternoon of Sept. 5, 2024, Anthony Anderson was worried.
"Oh, it was scary man, real scary. It was like, Oh my Gosh!" Anderson said.
Firefighters said a chemical fire that involved propane, methanol and xylene broke out at SMB Products on Rosemary Boulevard. The business manufactures after-market auto parts.
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After one explosion, firefighters braced for the possibility of more, and people living or working within a one-mile radius were evacuated.
That included Anderson and his granddaughter.
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"They said it might blow because they got tanks up there or something," Anderson said.
Fortunately, there were no additional explosions. One firefighter was hurt, but there were no injuries to workers or residents.
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However, Anderson said he has been experiencing lingering headaches and coughing ever since.
"Two weeks, three weeks and stuff, I started spitting up, like I had a cold or something," Anderson said. "I'm still coughing that stuff up. I don't know what it is."
Akron Fire Lt. Robert Langston said the safety and health of residents were priorities in the aftermath of the massive fire.
He said the Ohio EPA supervised firefighters as they did air quality and groundwater testing for seven days. The results came back normal.
"There's nothing to indicate that there's any long-term worries as far as safety is concerned," Langston said.
In the months that followed, investigators with the Akron Fire Department and the State Fire Marshal tried to figure out how the fire started, but Langston told News 5 that a cause could not be pinpointed. It has been ruled undetermined.
"At this point, that was their final ruling on the cause, that it was undetermined," Langston said.
According to the owner of the property, John Piscitelli, two buildings were destroyed in the fire, and another was damaged.
He said 24 workers have returned to the job, but 20 others are still waiting to come back.
Piscitelli said the company wants to return to full production. An inspection with Akron firefighters is scheduled for next week.
"Until the entire assessment is complete with all of the agencies that are involved with that, they will still be on a limited basis," Langston said.
Meanwhile, Anderson continues to deal with a nagging cough. He can't help but wonder if it's connected to the fire more than five months ago.
"I think it's connected to that because I ain't never felt like this."
The Ohio EPA gave us the following statement about the fire that said, in part:
"Ohio EPA’s Office of Emergency Response supports local incident command during events like this. For this incident, our agency worked with the local HazMat team to set up basic air monitoring to confirm the evacuation zone was safe. After that, a consultant was hired by the company to set up a temporary community-based air monitoring system.
During the fire, Ohio EPA monitored the creek for impacts from firefighting water runoff. Aeration was placed in the creek to minimize the effects of the runoff, and we took samples in the creek, the Tuscarawas River, and Long Lake.
Ohio EPA also provided oversight as the company’s environmental contractor set up stormwater controls to further protect the creek from contaminated runoff. To this day, the stormwater controls remain in place while cleanup at the facility continues.
Since the fire, and during the ongoing cleanup, Ohio EPA continues to work with the company and its environmental consultant to make sure waste is managed and properly disposed."
