Waynesburg sewer plant shut down after fire
Fire at a garage at the Waynesburg seweage treatment plant knocked out electrical power to the plant Sunday.
Flames burn through the roof of a garage Sunday at the Waynesburg sewer plant.
WAYNESBURG – Waynesburg Borough hopes to have its sewage treatment plant back in operation by the end of the week after a fire in a garage at its Sunday damaged the plant’s main electrical distribution system.
A temporary sewer connection was made Sunday between the borough and Franklin Township Sewage Authority systems to allow the borough to treat its sewage at the Franklin plant and avoid an outage.
The 1 p.m. fire heavily damaged the building that was used as a garage and workshop and contained the electrical power distribution terminal and an emergency generator.
“The electricity for the plant runs through the building so we’re going to have to fix, maybe re-route the electricity, to get the plant back in operation,” Borough Manager Mike Simms said.
Sam McCullough, plant manager, said an electrical contractor hopes to have power restored by the end of the week.
The fire was not suspicious, but its cause is undetermined, said state police fire marshal Trooper Craig Soltis, who was at the plant investigating Monday morning.
“There were too many items that could be the source to pinpoint the exact cause,” Soltis said.
In addition, fire damage made it difficult to determine a specific cause, he said.
The fire not only destroyed the electrical distribution terminal but other items inside the garage including four riding lawnmowers, weed trimmers, tools, a $15,000 back-up motor and the plant’s emergency generator, McCullough said.
No one was at the plant on Meadowlark Park Road in Franklin Township when the fire started. One plant employee was working Sunday but was on lunch break, McCullough said.
The employee, Dave Beiter, was cutting grass and pulled the riding mower into the garage before going to lunch, he said.
The fire was believed to have been reported by people who were playing ball at the Meadowlark Park baseball field.
When the smoke got thick, they realized it was something more than just burning leaves and called the fire department, assistant borough manager Bryan Cumberledge said.
“They saw the smoke and just thought we were burning leaves or something,” Cumberledge said.
Waynesburg-Franklin Township fire Chief Jeff Marshall said that when firefighters arrived on scene, flames were through the roof. The company had adequate water and manpower and no major problems extinguishing the blaze, he said, however, the Jefferson Volunteer Fire Co. was called to assist.
Both McCullough and Cumberledge thanked the Franklin Township Sewer Authority for its assistant. The authority not only allowed the borough to connect with its system but also provided manpower and the pump to make the connection.
“They really helped us out,” McCullough said. The pump was set up on Meadowlark Park Road where the two systems each have sewage lines and nearby manholes. The pump was in operation about two hours after the fire, McCullough said.
Craig Brewer, a plant operator at the Franklin plant, said the authority now has the capacity to treat the borough’s sewage.
“Right now, we can handle it,” Brewer said. A problem could develop if there is a heavy rain, because the borough’s sewage system carries both sanitary and storm water. However, “It would have to be a pretty significant rain event,” Brewer said.
McCullough also thanked firefighters who responded to extinguish the fire.
“They had to come out on Father’s Day,” he said. “They probably saved us a lot of headache down the road.”