The plume of black smoke that drifted into the air Tuesday as a fire burned through a stack of automobile scrap at an Adams County recycling yard could be seen for miles, leading some drivers in the area to pull off the road and film the dark cloud filling the sky.
The smoke carried the potential to cause short-term respiratory irritation to people near the fire, which occurred in the 5600 block of York Street. But as menacing as it appeared, state health officials say they don’t believe the black smoke and fumes will create long-term health risks for residents.
“The plume and fumes from a fire like this would be harmful if directly breathed,” said Dr. Larry Wolk, chief medical officer and executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment in an emailed statement. “If fires with noxious and potentially toxic fumes burned longer term, there would be more concern, similar to longer-term emissions like we experience on high ozone days.”
When the fire broke out at the recycling yard Tuesday afternoon, Adams County Fire Rescue officials warned area residents to stay indoors and avoid the smoke.
Such smoke can irritate the respiratory system and cause coughing, difficulty breathing, headaches and runny noses. People with existing respiratory conditions like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), are most vulnerable to air quality issues, said Ann Cecchine-Williams, deputy executive director for Denver Department of Public Health and Environment.
Cecchine-Williams said the fire did not cause damage in Denver because the winds were blowing from the southeast.
Unlike the wildfires burning throughout the state, the smoke from the fire can create more irritants because it occurred in a recycling yard and possibly burned through metal and rubber, said Dr. Ahmad Rashid, a pulmonologist with Swedish Medical Center.
This makes the fire “potentially more harmful than a wildfire,” he said.
The origin and cause of the fire is still under investigation. Adams County Fire removed all units from the scene of the fire by Wednesday late afternoon, a spokesperson for the department said on Twitter.
The Department of Public Health and Environment said it has stationary monitors in the area, which are used to check situations such as the ozone level, near where the fire occurred that will alert officials if longer-term health risks arise. So far, the monitors have not been triggered, the agency said.
“Therefore, it’s possible that folks in direct proximity to the smoke plume may have experienced short-term respiratory irritation but there is little concern for long term health effects based on the information that we have right now,” Wolk said.
The regional office for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was also called to the scene of the fire to assist with air monitoring and did not find any air quality issues that approached levels of concern.
The agency also checked to see if the water used to fight the fire would cause runoff into the South Platte River and found that the water was not a threat to the river, said Craig Giggleman, on-scene coordinator for EPA’s eighth region.
