Projects: Beyond the Flames

Beyond the Flames / The Legacy of the Wade Dump Fire 

At 3:44 pm on the afternoon of February 2, 1978 the first alarm was sounded for a fire at the Eastern Rubber Reclaiming facility in Chester, Pa. From the perimeter the facility appeared to be a tire recycling facility. As firemen entered the interior of the site, they discovered that it held more than 20,000, 55-gallon drums containing at least 3 million gallons of toxic industrial waste including cyanide, benzene, toluene, and PCBs. 

As firefighters, most without air packs, entered the warehouse containing the barrels of toxins, they were met with blue, green, and purple smoke that was burning their eyes and scorching their lungs. Attacking the fire, knee deep in chemical waste, they soon noticed their protective gear changing color and melting. 

At 5:00 pm a fireball and deafening explosions, began hurling the 55-gallon drums as high as the deck of the adjacent Commodore Barry Bridge. 

The fire was brought under control later that evening. The fire became known as the Wade Dump fire due to the negligence of the owner of the tire recycling firm Melvin Wade. For years, Wade had allowed truckers to deposit barrels of toxic waste for a fraction of the normal cost of disposal and mitigation.  

The toll on the more than 200 firefighters, police, and medics would continue for decades. Epidemiologists predicted that the medical toll on the responders would take place over 30 years since chemically induced cancers can take as long as 30 years to manifest. 

In 1998, the twentieth anniversary of the fire, 20 of the responders had died from cancer and respiratory causes. Dozens more were sick. In the ensuing litigation, families of 6 responders received payments of $100,000. Most others received payments of $10,000 or less. In August of 1990 Judge Melvin Levy sealed all court records as part of the settlement. The Wade disaster, along with the pollution of Love Canal and Three Mile Island, were key factors in the creation of the 1980 Superfund legislation.