Dramatic video captured flaming water filling a large upstate New York ditch after a huge fire occurred at a warehouse containing hand sanitizers nearly two weeks ago.
The incident occurred on the evening of Aug. 30 in the town of Gorham in Ontario County, Syracuse.com and
Finger Lakes Daily News reported.
At the time of the warehouse blaze, the town sent a shelter-in-place advisory to residents “within a 3/4 mile radius of the structure fire on Dewey Avenue.”
Citing Gorham town board records, Syracuse.com reported that the 50,000-square-foot Eco Operations warehouse was storing expired hand sanitizers and other volatile materials when the fire occurred.
On Aug. 31, the Crystal Beach Fire Department, based in Canandaigua, N.Y., shared footage of the flaming ditch close to the site of the fire. In the clip, the water in the ditch resembles lava.
“The water was on fire,” the department wrote in the video's caption.
Gorham Town Supervisor Dale Stell commented on the incident, telling Syracuse.com: “With all the water that was necessary to put on the site, and all the hand sanitizer, there was a flow downhill and was in the ditch in front of this building [sic]."
Stell continued, “It would have been on fire before it got to the ditch. Hand sanitizer has a certain percentage of alcohol, and it floats on top of water.”
The blaze prompted over 40 fire departments to respond, the outlet reported.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(787x486:789x488):format(webp)/hand-sanitizer-fire2-91025-b19b947982ee407c8181d14121e1db18.jpg)
Crystal Beach Fire Department/Facebook
In the wake of the fire, officials warned people to avoid nearby Flint Creek downstream of Dewey Avenue to the Canandaigua Outlet, Syracuse.com reported. Their guidelines included no fishing, boating or swimming.
In an Aug. 31 statement, the Town of Gorham said that it had been aware of the building’s materials and potential hazards for several months, and had worked with authorities to put a plan in place in the event of a fire.
“Due to these efforts, the fire was quickly contained as quickly as possible, and, most importantly, there were no injuries,” the statement read.
The town also said that the warehouse building is a complete loss, and a full investigation has been launched into the incident.