Grand Prairie Poly-America factory fire to burn for at least one more day. Here’s why.
As the fire at the Grand Prairie-based Poly-America plant continues to burn, fire department officials say the molten material caused by the plastic burning takes longer to extinguish.
The fire, which started Wednesday morning, is expected to keep burning at least until Thursday, said Grand Prairie Assistant Fire Chief Bill Murphy in a telephone interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. No injuries have been reported in the fire.
A power line that collapsed into a storage area full of plastic sheeting is believed to have started the blaze at the Poly-America factory, at 2000 W. Marshall Drive in Grand Prairie. Officials with Poly-America could not immediately be reached for comment.
Murphy said there were giant rolls of plastic stacked as high as 8 feet, which made the fire denser — and combined with the fact that plastic burns very hot — it created a difficult situation for his team.
“That was a tough part for us because there was so much of the plastic so deep and packed in there,” he said.
The most useful tool against a plastic fire is foam, Murphy said, and his department only has a very small supply of it, which also contributes to the prolonging of the fire. He said his department reached out to its city partners and the DFW International Airport for additional foam.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Murphy said the fire was under control, but because of the plastic that was stacked high, there is still smoldering. His team will have to break the stacked piles up and under the plastic they will probably find some burning.
“It’s a deep-seated fire, but it’ll just be covered up, so that’s what’s gonna take us long,” he said. “On the surface it’s gonna look like everything’s out.”
Murphy compared the fire to a huge candle where the wax has melted on the top, but continues to burn.
This fire marks the second time Murphy has had to deal with a Poly-America plastic blaze. About 32 years ago, as a firefighter he dealt with an almost identical fire, he said. The only difference is back then they didn’t have any foam, making the job a lot harder.
This time around, he said, he was the only one who knew what to do in this situation. The 300-yard-long fire caused his team to be spread out, but his first instinct was to see what resources he needed and make sure his team worked effectively.
