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Braintree firefighters responded to the fire at the Clean Harbors site, located at 1 Hill Avenue in Braintree, around 10 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 16, the Town of Braintree said in a statement.
The company offers services like "end-to-end hazardous waste management, emergency spill response, industrial cleaning and maintenance, and recycling," their website reads.
Several units including Hazmat officers and staff from the Building and Health Departments were also on scene, and the fire was eventually extinguished around 1 a.m. on Friday, the Town said.
While residents were told to "stay in their homes and keep the windows closed" via Braintree's Facebook page, some were upset about not getting alerts outside social media.
"Why am I just now waking up to see this but didn’t hear anything about it," one person wrote under Braintree's first post. "No reverse 911 calls? Nothing!"
"Get texts about the Braintree Holiday update, but nothing about a potential public health hazard," another person wrote. "Thankful for the firefighters involved!"
One person, who commented on the post of the statement, reiterated the idea that not every resident is on social media and that "a call should have gone out last night to inform the public."
In a statement, Clean Harbors said the fire was contained to several trailers parked at the facility. Initial findings suggest the materials in one of the trailers self-reacted, Clean Harbors continued.
Officials later determined the air quality to be safe and that there was no threat to the community, the Town concluded.
Mayor Charles Kokoros defended his decision to forgo a robocall by saying, “We didn’t want to panic anyone because there wasn’t any evidence that there was any danger,” 7News reports.
Kokoros also said he was also committed to staying in touch with Clean Harbors to ensure the fire does not happen again, the outlet continued. No injuries were reported and the investigation into the fire is ongoing.
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