* Tuesday, August 13, 2019
This page will be updated regularly as information becomes available.
Latest Update
Late yesterday (Monday, August 12), contractors began pulling material from the southwest corner of the pile and dousing it with water. This morning, contractors continued aggressive firefighting operations. Activities included excavating, spreading and dousing material. The first truck loads of material left the site for the landfill this afternoon.
Water suppression of smoky areas of the pile continues. The plan is to leave one water stream spraying on a hot spot through the night tonight to see if that will help minimize smoke offsite.
Air quality monitoring and observations documented low to no smoke until midnight, with increasing smoke after 1:00 AM. Smoke was seen and measured as far south as Sun City by 2:45 AM. Peak concentrations of particulates were in the Moderate Air Quality Index category (refer to AQI information found in the Community Resources page). As we have been seeing, by 9:00 AM this morning, concentrations of particulates on all monitors were reduced.
Smoke forecast for Wednesday, August 14, 2019:
Lighter wind speeds during the late night and early morning hours on Wednesday could trap smoke near the surface close to and just north of the Able fire location. There could be periods of smoke at times to the north of the facility as far north as Hearthstone Lakes subdivision through mid-morning on Wednesday. An increase in southerly winds and an increase in vertical mixing due to an increasingly buoyant airmass should allow the smoke plume to disperse rather efficiently from late morning through the afternoon period on Wednesday. This should lead to little smoke impact after the mid-morning hours Wednesday. Locations closest to the Able Contracting Recycling facility along Schinger Avenue are more likely to experience smoke at any given time.
The Smoke Forecast Hotline has been established to provide the daily forecast and allow community members to leave messages if they have additional questions. The Smoke Forecast Hotline phone number is 803-898-4262 or 1-800‐204-1842.
For media inquiries: media@dhec.sc.gov.
For other inquiries: ablefire@dhec.sc.gov. (A previous technical error with the email address has now been fixed)
Stay Informed
This page will be updated regularly as information becomes available.