This article was originally published in The Examiner on July 20, 2017.
By Eleanor Skelton
Staff Writer
Port Arthur firefighters declared that the emergency incident at German Pellets involving a fire, which started April 15, and a June 2 silo collapse was finally over Tuesday morning.
“The Port Arthur Fire Department terminated the emergency incident at German Pellets as of 8:30 the morning of Tuesday, July 25,” City of Port Arthur spokesperson LaRisa Carpenter said in a news release. “This incident has been ongoing since April 15, and the Port Arthur Fire Department has had personnel on-site 24-7.”
The rest of the silo temperatures are in normal range, she said. Crews are still working to clean up the site.
“The Port Arthur Fire Department will continue to attend daily meetings and monitor the site until the remaining silos are empty,” Carpenter said. “This incident is one of the longest in Port Arthur Fire Department history, lasting 102 days.”
When the silo that had been smoldering for months at German Pellets in Port Arthur collapsed in early June, there were no people in the collapse zone when the collapse occurred, and no injuries were reported.
Eleanor Skelton 