CHESTER COUNTY, S.C. (FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) – A massive fire engulfed a plastics manufacturing plant in Chester County. Thick black smoke could be seen for miles.
At last check, five firefighters were in the hospital for heat-related illnesses they sustained while fighting the massive fire.
FOX 46 was told there aren’t any evacuations as of yet, we are in a very rural area, but officials from SCDHEC has been monitoring the situation.
Firefighters say a storage area of pallets, oil and plastic caught fire just before 6 a.m. Monday. Officials say it was the perfect mix of ingredients for a massive blaze as Carolina Poly employees arrived for their morning shift.
“I was at the security gate when I first dropped her off. The heat was so intense you could feel it at the guard shack down there,” James Hinson said.
Hinson didn’t leave the fire scene all day. His fiancé was evacuated from the building to the parking lot.
He, along with dozens of other, watched from across the street as the fire raged on.
“I went on through, but when I came back I noticed it got worse, so I stopped just to experience it,” Hinson said,
It was an experience no one in Chester County has seen before. All fire departments were requested for help, but as times, they were no match for the blaze, which cast a dark storm like cloud over the area.
“I have never seen anything like it. I’ve seen house fires, but nothing like this.”
The plant makes plastic garbage bags and is a subsidiary of Poly America, the same company that owns a plant in Texas that also had a similar fire last week.
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