U.S. Environmental Protection Agency staff and contractors pack up their monitoring equipment as part of their demobilization Wednesday morning, as according to federal onsite coordinator Matthew Ridgeway, levels at the site of the Peoples Cartage warehouse facility fire on Camden Avenue had decreased and stabilized to the point that monitoring was no longer necessary. (Photo by Christina Myer)

PARKERSBURG – Incident command was expected to be closed down at noon Wednesday, and Wood County Emergency Management will lead the scene from there, after the fire at Peoples Cartage’s Camden Avenue warehouse facility, according to Wood County 911 Director Dale McEwuen.

A shelter-in-place recommendation established east of the fire was rescinded Tuesday afternoon. The Wood County 911 Center announced the change on its Facebook page, saying air monitoring data showed levels below the minimum thresholds.

At 6:40 p.m. Tuesday, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection said air quality monitoring conducted by the DEP and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency indicated smoke-related particulate matter levels were below EPA’s action level, and no elevated readings had been detected for any other monitored parameters.

“Air monitoring will continue as response activities progress and conditions evolve,” according to the DEP news release.

Regarding water quality concerns, the DEP said it “continues sampling the Little Kanawha River. Preliminary laboratory testing has not identified any results exceeding applicable water quality standards. Additional sampling and analysis are underway, and verified information will be shared as it becomes available.”

McEwuen said the long-term monitoring of the particulate levels around the site by the federal EPA indicated the levels of what was being produced at the scene were within safe levels by Tuesday afternoon.

By Wednesday morning, measurable particulates were at zero, because the fire is out, according to McEwuen.

“People are able to come out of their houses and go do their normal activities and be able to do what they need to do,” he said.

Cleanup procedure is underway, however, and may last several days. But once the incident command post has been shut down, McEwuen said traffic will be released to flow on Camden Avenue.

Meanwhile, the county is working to make more data available to residents.

“EPA is going to publish the numbers on their website and we hope to be able to get those onto the county’s website to give transparency for them to know what we had and where we are at,” McEwuen said.

East Wood Volunteer Fire Department Chief Ron Utt said Wednesday morning the department was working on demobilization, meaning “all fire apparatus are gone. We are getting all the support staff and supplies and such gathered up and returned.”

On Sunday and Monday, there were around 23 agencies helping to fight the fire, according to McEwuen. A majority of the departments who were helping with firefighting efforts had left by Tuesday afternoon.

“The remaining agencies are mostly local from Wood County,” he said adding by late Tuesday afternoon officials estimated they had under 50 personnel still on site.

Rain that hit the area Tuesday afternoon had a “negligible effect” on efforts at the site where it really didn’t affect how things were being done, McEwuen said.

Executive Editor Christina Myer contributed to this story.