LACKAWANNA, N.Y. (WKBW) — A massive fire tore through the old Bethlehem Steel plant in Lackawanna in November 2016 and plumes of smoke were visible from miles away.
Joe Parot lives across the street, he said he will never forget when his wife woke him up to show him that the plant was up in flames.
"We're watching the steel building burn," Parot said he told his wife. He said that his wife has COPD and he told her the smoke wasn't good for her. "I came outside and I said, 'This is terrible...we gotta go. I'll pull the car up to the door and you rush out and we'll leave."
Officials closed Route 5 from Ridge Road to Lake Avenue and a State of Emergency was declared due to spewing smoke and ash. All 300 homes in Bethlehem Park were evacuated due to concerns over air quality. Families were asked to relocate to friends or family's homes, if possible, if not shelters were put in place.
Just shy of eight years later, a jury found the owner of the property, Great Lakes Industrial Development, LLC, and its tenant, Industrial Materials Recycling, were each negligent and liable for causing the fire.
Attorney Jeanne Vinal, who was representing neighbors in a lawsuit against the property owners, said it was a tough, years-long battle.
According to Vinal, her legal team of three attorneys showed the jury that the owner and tenant stored at least a million pounds of ground-up recycled plastic inside the plant under dangerous conditions. She said there were no sprinklers — just handheld fire extinguishers and the plastic pieces were stored in giant cardboard boxes stacked on top of each other.
Vinal said above the cardboard boxes of the plastic pieces were giant industrial light bulbs that weren't properly shielded. As rain came through the dilapidated roof, the light bulbs caught fire and exploded, sparking the fire in the highly combustible bins of plastic.
"We worked hard on this case," Vinal said, showing her conference room filled with files on the case. "This isn't something that just happens."
The case is far from over. This jury was tasked with finding liability. The next step is determining damages and those will be handled as separate cases.
