Fire Breaks Out at 'Green' Energy Plant, Noxious Smoke Is So Bad Mayor Urges Residents to Stay Indoors

Smoke from a fire at a facility designed to turn waste into energy is 
forcing officials to urge residents near the Florida plant to stay 
indoors.

The fire broke out Sunday at the Covanta Energy plant in Doral, according 
to CNN.

As of Friday, officials said they were trying to demolish walls to gain 
better access to the burning trash but had no timetable for when the fire 
would be extinguished.

“Residents in the area should stay indoors as much as possible, and keep 
your windows closed,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said, 
according to the Miami Herald.

Although Levine Cava is not using the phrase “shelter in place,” the 
mayor’s deputy chief of staff said she is following the recommendation of 
the Environmental Protection Agency.

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“What they’re doing is consistent with the data we provided to them,” 
Matthew Huyser of the EPA said.

Miami-Dade County has released daily EPA reports since Wednesday 
concerning the Covanta fire.

On Thursday, one monitoring station recorded air quality that the EPA 
rated as “unhealthy,” meaning that “everyone may begin to experience 
health effects,” according to the EPA. By Saturday, the readings showed 
air quality at a moderate “level of health concern.”

On Friday, officials dismissed students at two schools near the plant, 
according to WSVN-TV. Two parks have also been closed.

Some residents were unhappy with how any health dangers have been 
communicated to them.

“All of that data should have been shared and all we got were summary 
reports basically saying, ‘Stay out of the smoke.’ … That’s unacceptable 
on so many levels when now we are finding out that the levels that were 
recorded are unsafe,” Fernando Horritiner said, according to WTVJ-TV.

“I’m very concerned because we’re getting sick,” Sirling Sanchez said, 
noting that some members of her family had lost their voices, according to 
CBS News.

“We don’t have any answers,” Sanchez said.

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smoke-bad-mayor-urges-residents-stay-indoors/>