Officials: State waiting for complete contents list following warehouse fire at IEI

A list of items contained mostly acronyms, three types of nylon and a few other substances. More detailed sheets about a pair of adhesives — one classified as non-hazardous, the other potentially combustible– were also included, but they did not obviously correspond to items on the list.

The documents were received by the DEP on Oct. 29, the same day the fire that began in the early morning hours of Oct. 21 was officially declared out, said Lawrence Messina, director of communications for the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety. Two days later, state officials said the data supplied did not satisfy a DEP order to disclose the materials stored there.

In an email Wednesday afternoon, Messina said the documents were released in response to multiple Freedom of Information Act requests.

“IEI has since provided additional documents to WV DEP, and those are being reviewed to see if they can be released to media,” he said in the email.

Sunny Naik, accounts manager for SurNaik Holdings of WV LLC, which owns IEI, said the company is cooperating with state and local officials.

“They’ve got a giant binder of every single MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet),” he said. “They’ve got all the information, and we are working very closely with them on our action plan.”

Local air quality has been monitored since the fire began. State officials said last week that testing for particulates generally found results within U.S. Environmental Protection Agency air quality standards, though there were spikes when they exceeded those levels.

Among the items listed were three types of Nylon (Nylon 6, Nylon 66 and Nylon 612), PET, PETG, PBT, Surlyn, HCR, Triacetate, HTN, PPO, ABS, LCP, PCTA, HTN and Cellulose Niacetate. However, the list does not give any generic or brand names of the items.

According to the safety data sheets provided by IEI, two of the substances in the warehouse are hydrocarbon resins, Picco 5120 and Piccotac 1020, which are adhesives.

According to the SDS, Piccotac 1020 has not been classified as hazardous.

However, Picco 5120 has been classified as a combustible dust if converted to small particles during further processing or handling or by other means may form combustible dust concentrations in the air, according to the safety data sheets.

In the email, Messina said the documents “reflect preliminary information”and the DEP does not believe the records satisfy the order to provide a detailed inventory.

“Incident Command has yet to conclude that these records represent an accurate or up-to-date account of the site’s contents,” Messina said.