By Esteban Fernandez
For Times West Virginian
Parkersburg — As Peoples Cartage Warehouse burned over the weekend, motorists and local residents collected on the side of Camden Avenue in Parkersburg to watch.
Smoke billowed into the sky. But despite the sight, many took it as a fact of life where Dupont and other chemical companies do business in the Mid Ohio Valley.
“Sadly, we’re in chemical valley,” Parkersburg area resident Kaitlyn Gumm said. “So, that’s just unfortunately what it comes to being around here. I’m already seeking Peoples pools turning black and everything from the debris falling out. So that’s definitely going to suck for a long time.”
When the warehouse fire broke out July 4, sprinklers initially extinguished the fire, but it reignited Sunday morning around 5:30 a.m. By midday, a black cloud of smoke could be seen from as far away as Vienna and across the Ohio river.
One Fairmont resident who was on his way to see family in Parkersburg with his daughters, said he worried about the potential of the fire to impact anything within 100 miles, including Fairmont.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey declared Wood County to be in a state of emergency as dozens of agencies arrived to help contain the fire. The fire was so massive, Morrisey said even the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency responded.
As of Monday, high polymerized rubber still burnt within the building.
For Caleb Cheadle, the Cartage fire stirred memories of the Ames Tool Plant fire on Camden Avenue in 2017.
“It’s crazy, a similar thing happened a few years back, so I don’t know,” Cheadle said. “I don’t know why they’re doing all this kinda stuff, just catching fire like this. I just hope they get it all under control and everyone’s OK.”
Cheadle had friends and one family member who fought the fire on the front lines. Another resident, who declined to be named, said her husband was with the Mineral Wells Fire Department and was one of the firefighters who responded to the blaze.
She watched from her sedan as flames peeked out from the curtain of smoke rising from the warehouse.
“I haven’t been able to really get a hold of him, so there’s always a concern with that,” she said. “But I also understand that this is pressing.
“He may or may not have a phone on him or any way for me to contact him, but I know there’s a lot of people down there that see them and take care of them while they’re there. Just hopefully, that he’s back in a way and being safe.”
Gumm, Cheadle and the resident from Fairmont all worried about the potential of chemicals being part of the fire.
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection issued a consent order on Peoples Cartage at the end of last year, citing failure to minimize the possibility of a fire, explosion or any unplanned sudden or non-sudden release of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents to the environment.
The report also noted in March and June of 2025 that deposits of calcium hypochlorite caught fire. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, calcium hypochlorite can be corrosive and may release harmful vapors.
Calcium hypochlorite is also known as Clorox in some formulations.
Monday afternoon, Morrisey issued a shelter in place order for residents who live within half a mile of an air monitoring station placed north of the facility. The EPA and WVDEP will monitor the air while firefighters continue to put out the flames.
“The safety of the people of Wood County remains my highest priority,” Morrisey said in a statement. “We are taking a cautious approach, working closely with our local, state, and federal partners, and providing every available resource necessary to protect the public while this response continues.”
Read more from Times West Virginian, here.
