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PARKERSBURG -- Authorities have recommended a "precautionary shelter in place" for an area across the Little Kanawha River from the Peoples Cartage warehouse fire.
The notice was posted Monday afternoon on the Wood County 911 Center's Facebook page.
"Working with WVDEP and EPA, air monitoring particulate levels have recently exceeded minimum threshold levels," the post stated.
The shelter-in-place map posted by the 911 center is along the river and Staunton Turnpike, from just south of Dry Run north toward Brown Asphalt Paving.
The fire began early Sunday at the warehouse on Camden Avenue, just outside the Parkersburg city limits. Company and fire officials said it appeared a fire extinguished by the sprinkler system on Saturday had reignited and was not contained as the sprinklers were down for maintenance and upgrades.
At Monday's Wood County Commission meeting, officials discussed the ongoing firefighting efforts.
Wood County 911 Director Dale McEwuen said the materials inside the structure were high carbon polymer and high carbon rubber polymer. Sheriff Rick Woodyard said there was a section of the facility that was housing lithium batteries that fire crews managed to isolate and keep the fire away. A firewall within the area where the batteries were stored also held up well.
Woodyard said there have been a lot of rumors floating around on social media about what was being stored at the facility with people saying they believed there was napalm, weapons of mass destruction, radioactive materials and other hazardous materials at the facility.
"There was none of that that we know of," Woodyard said of checks done of the area with specialized equipment used to locate material like that.
"Equipment designed to look for those items found nothing of any consequence," the sheriff said.
ENVIRONMENTAL VIOLATIONS REPORTED
Meanwhile, as multiple local and state emergency responders work to keep the fire contained, a sister facility near the Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Airport was dinged last year by environmental regulators.
According to records in the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection database, the Peoples Cartage Inc. facility at 221 Airport Industrial Park was cited in May 2025 for five violations of sections of the Code of Federal Regulations dealing with the handling of hazardous waste.
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection Public Information Office noted in an email that while that facility is a registered hazardous waste generator, the Camden Avenue site is not.
"This facility has an EPA identification number due to historical hazardous waste management activities," the message from the DEP said. "However, the facility formally notified the WVDEP in October 2024 that it is currently not a generator of hazardous waste."
In an emailed letter to DEP dated May 6, 2025, Total Distribution Inc., the parent company of Peoples Cartage that acquired both the Airport Industrial Park and Camden Avenue facilities in 2024, said it had taken corrective actions.
"Peoples Cartage Inc. takes the safety of our staff and the health of our environment very seriously," wrote Senior Director of Safety, Quality, and Regulatory Compliance Joseph DeVirgilio.
The listed infractions included one violation of 262.15, requiring that waste containers be kept in excellent condition, remain securely closed unless in use and be composed of materials compatible with their contents. Inspectors cited Peoples Cartage for having an open container of hazardous waste.
Three violations were for not following CFR 262.16, which mandates strict volume thresholds and time limits for on-site storage, generally restricted to 180 days or 270 days for long-distance transport. The facility was cited for not displaying required labels on containers denoting hazardous waste and for failing to "maintain and operate to minimize the possibility of a fire, explosion, or any unplanned sudden or non-sudden release of hazardous waste …"
The fifth violation was for violating State Code 22-18-8(a), which sets the mandatory permitting process for any individual or entity involved in the management of hazardous waste in West Virginia. Under these regulations, it is illegal to build, operate or shut down a waste facility without prior governmental authorization and a period for public commentary.
State regulators accused the Peoples Cartage Airport Industrial Park site of disposing of hazardous waste without a permit. DeVirgilio provided the same worded corrective action response as the first four violations, with one addendum.
"Additionally, newly constructed waste storage areas have been wired with fire alarms so the notification of any fire related incidents are immediately received," he wrote.
In a Dec. 15, 2025, document, DEP's Division of Water and Waste Management issued a consent order for the Peoples Cartage Airport Industrial Park site following multiple fires involving calcium hypochlorite hazardous waste at the facility prior to Total Distribution's acquisition of the site previously owned by REO Processing West Virginia.
According to the report, there was a fire at the facility on July 4, 2020, involving containers of calcium hypochlorite, a granular chlorine compound used with swimming pools and municipal water disinfectant. Following that fire, the containers were moved outside and placed under a canopy, where another fire occurred involving the same substance. Those fires resulted in DEP issuing a consent order with REO Processing.
After the Airport Industrial Park site was acquired by Peoples Cartage/Total Distribution in 2024, a fire was reported to the DEP Spill Hotline on March 16, 2025, resulting in an inspection by DEP the following day, acknowledging there had been a fire in a hazardous waste storage building involving calcium hypochlorite.
DEP received another report of a calcium hypochlorite fire at the Airport Industrial Park site on June 4, resulting in another inspection the following day.
As a result of these safety and environmental breaches, the company was assessed a civil administrative penalty of $46,380. The company agreed to a plan of corrective action, involving upgrading storage infrastructure with poured concrete and implementing thermal scanning to monitor for dangerous heat levels to ensure future compliance with the Hazardous Waste Management Act.
Attempts to contact company representatives were unsuccessful Monday. Total Distribution posted on its Facebook page Sunday evening and its website the following statement:
"On Saturday, July 4, 2026, a fire occurred at our Camden Avenue facility in Parkersburg, West Virginia. The fire was quickly contained and extinguished by our fire suppression systems and the local fire department, and a stringent fire watch was maintained throughout the day and overnight. Unfortunately, on Sunday, July 5, 2026, the fire reignited, resulting in significant damage -- the full extent of which has not yet been assessed.
"Most importantly, at this time, we are grateful to report that no injuries have been sustained by any employees or other individuals on site.
"We are cooperating fully with the local fire department and the appropriate authorities, and we will not speculate on the cause of the fire while that investigation is ongoing. We are in direct communication with those affected by this event and are committed to keeping them informed as the situation develops.
"The safety of our employees, our customers, our neighbors, and our community is our highest priority. We take that responsibility seriously and are committed to handling this matter with full transparency."