Fire at Circleville Wastewater Plant extinguished quickly

There was a fire around lunchtime Tuesday at the Circleville Wastewater Treatment Plant at 779 W Main Street. With this location being on the west side of the Scioto River in Wayne Township, the Southwest Pickaway Fire District in Williamsport was the first response team to be notified. Since they did not have any units available, the Circleville Fire Department responded as part of their mutual aid agreement.

The fire was located on top of the roof over the new headwork building currently under construction. A subcontractor working for Kokosing Construction Company was applying a hot tar coating to the roofing as part of the construction process. The fire started in the roofer hot box on top of the flat roof under construction.

Tuesday, the outside temperature reached 90 degrees in the afternoon, possibly contributing to the cause of the fire.

“It was a minor fire that appears to be construction related,” said Brian Frost, Circleville Utilities Manager.

“No one was injured. The damage was minor.”

Frost also stated that although there would need to be minor repairs made at the site of the fire, there was no structural damage to the roof, the new headwork building, or any equipment. The operation of the treatment plant was not affected.

The new headwork building is where the wastewater will first enter the treatment plant. It is the first step in the treatment process, removing trash and inorganic material, such as sand, grit, eggshells, etc. from the wastewater treatment process. The new headwork project will update and increase the capacity of the screening and grit removal processes.

“It was just a construction fire that was contained to the roof of the structure, isolated to that area,” said Circleville Fire Chief Brian Thompson. “It was quickly extinguished with water spray.”