By admin 
Five days after a spectacular fire at a mattress factory in Winnsboro, local and state officials say they’ve headed off many of the threats to creeks, drinking water and air that had raised alarms in the small Fairfield County town.
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The initial fire broke out early Sunday Aug. 16, then blazed up again later that day as it spread through the U.S. 321 factory. The possible release of chemicals used in the manufacturing process sparked concerns, prompting a response from state, federal and local agencies.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,’’ Fairfield County spokesman Gene Stephens said Friday. “It looked like a volcano with the smoke coming out. There weren’t explosions, but it almost looked like fireballs going up.’’
he county said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found few threats while monitoring the air immediately after the fire.
Meanwhile, state and local officials were able to temporarily dam up a creek before any polluted runoff from the fire reached Winnsboro’s drinking water reservoir, Stephens said. Runoff from water used to fight the fire is being pumped away, Stephens said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, but Stephens said there are no signs, so far, of foul play. The blaze turned from a smaller fire Sunday morning to an extensive fire that had spread to other parts of the plant Sunday night, he said.
While progress has been made to protect the community and the environment, government agencies continue to investigate and monitor the property, particularly since expected rain could wash some contaminants from the site.
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The fire occurred at the MLILY USA mattress factory, a 650,000 square foot facility owned by Healthcare Co. Ltd. of China. The factory, at the site of an old plant, opened in 2019 after a $50 million investment in Fairfield, a small county just north of Columbia.
The factory employs more than 250 people. It uses foam to manufacture mattresses, Stephens said.
aylor Campbell, a company official at HealthCare’s Knoxville, Tenn., office, called the blaze “a total loss fire’’ but said “everyone was safe.’’ She said she did not know about whether the company planned to rebuild, but said Healthcare expected to put out a statement in the near future.
or now, officials say the public is safe.
Myra Reece, the director at the S.C. Department of Environmental Services, praised efforts to limit the threats from the fire.
“The immediate and collaborative efforts of federal, state and local agencies have helped limit potential impacts to people, property and the environment,” Reece said in a news release. “SCDES will continue to provide close oversight of the ongoing environmental remediation efforts.”
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