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- 1 AB Friday,September 24, 1999 TIRE FIRE the jet stream and dissipating, Livermore Lab team we have is the smoke and what hat i Huston said. "The No. 1 co Continued from Al may do:' Assemblyman Dennis Cardoza, studiesfire' A fUcts Officials say they can't alpredic fail D-Merced, said in a news release C the long-teen environmental fall Thursday that he and Rep. Gary out from the fire. Firefighters havt Condit, D-Ceres, have been trying refrained from dumping any mon to get the tare pile cleaned up for By Abbie Dutcher and by Wednesday night and water on it, because the rmof decades. Cardoza said Condit Record Staff Writer early (Thursday) it would move would carry off toxic chemical opposed an expansion of the pile over the South Bay,' Bradley that could percolate into the sol° while serving as a Stanislaus When officials in Stanislaus said. and groundwater, officials said. County supervisor in the 1970s. In County were trying to figure Sure enough, folks in San Thursday afternoon, Itson saic 1987, as a member of the Atwater out which way the wind would Jose, Fremont and other cities the wind began swirling, and the City Council, Cardoza sponsored a blow on the tire fire near reported finding their cars and temperature of the fire dropped tc resolution that called for removal Westley, they looked to the lawn furniture coated with fine, about 1,500 dem of the pile. That same year, while Lawrence Livermore National black ash and a black, oillike "The tire pile is glazing over Laboratory for help. substance in their swimming which is what we want it to do; a member of Condit's staff, g Cardoza said About 40 scientists working pools that experts believe could he said. helped fashion al with the lab's Atmospheric have come o from WestleyThe melted rubber forms it, agreement thaatt called for removal Release Advisor Capability � of all the tires by 1994. y p y That pretty much confirmed own ceps which helps reduce the "I believe the owners of this team devote their time and that our predictions were fairly amount of smoke, he said. But 1 pile have acted inappropriately skills to calculating what air- accurate;" Bradley said Thurs- also lowers the fire's temperature and illegally for years, and it is borne hazardous materials day. which means more sulfur diaadde past time to get to the bottom of might do. As time goes on and the fire benzene and other toxins ar(- this," Cardoza said. "I want this A team of six scientists was dies down, the smoke coverage being released into the atmos matter prosecuted to the fullest assigned to the Westley fire will spread over a broader area, phere instead of being burned off extent of the law" after getting a call Wednesday he said. "Whether people will Mindful of that, officials frorr The fire was contained about 8 from the county's Emergency be able to actually smell it or the county, several state agencies a m. Thursday, enabling some fire Operations Center, said Dr. see it remains to be seen," he and the federal Environmenta crews to Thursday, home, said Capt. Curt Michael Bradley, an atmospher- fid, Protection Agency visited the tint Itson with thee, said California Depart- is scientist at ARAC. ARAC has been operating at pile Thursday to take samples County officials wanted help the Livermore Lab for years, assess the potential risks and dis ment of Forestry in Morgan Hill. predicting where the potential- performing similar computer- cuss possible strategies for con- Three engines from West Stan- ly toxic smoke might go over modeling services on a host of tainment. islaus Fire District in Patterson the next 24 to 48 hours, said incidents around the world, Monitoring stations also hav(- will remain on the site at least Sonya Harrigfeld, a hazardous- including the accident at the been installed near Westley and it through today to monitor the fire, materials specialist with the Three Mile Island nuclear Patterson to keep tabs on air Itson said. county. plant, the explosion and fire at quality, Huston said. CDF's costs to date for helping Tapping into its 24-hour the Chevron Oil Refinery in The state first took administrative- battle the blaze were estimated at worldwide weather database Richmond in March, and the enforcement action against Filbin ir. $580,000, Itson said. and high-resolution topograph- oil fires in Kuwait after the 1987, and in 1990 the attorney gen- Although contained, the blaze ical information, ARAC mem- Persian Gulf War. eral ordered him to create frebreale- could burn for months. Officials bers created three-dimensional The team also assisted offi- and start removing the millions o, said a similar fire at a tine dump computer models of the weath- cials in San Joaquin County tires on his 40-acre property. near Tracy is still smoldering a er conditions and the smoke after fire erupted at a tire dump Filbin kept the environmenta year after it started. column, Bradley said. near Tiracy in August 1998—an regulators at bay after Oxforc The Westley fire has been spew- "Our simulations on experience Bradley said proved stepped in and agreed to burn the ing heavy black smoke and fine Wednesday showed the plume helpful in dealing with the inti- tires at an incinerator built next ash but poses no immediate was moving north and west, dent at Westley to the pile by Modesto Energy, but health risks, officials said. Health Oxford abandoned the site it advisories remained in effect as a 1998, according to state enforce- precaution in San Joaquin and been blowing west toward the a sprinkling of black rain as the ment records. Stanislaus counties, but no health coastal foothills near the Bay Area smoke mingled with rain showers. Neither Filbin nor his attorney, complaints had been reported. and not threatening communities "We are thankful for the fact Thomas Trapp of San Francisco. So far, the potentially toxic along Interstate 5, officials said. that the plume is going straight could be reached for comment smoke has remained high and has Residents of Fremont reported up about 3,000 feet and hitting Thursday.