BRUNSWICK, Ga. – The size of wood pellet stacks and low water pressure may have contributed to a spectacular blaze that burned for days in May at a warehouse on the Georgia coast.
The Brunswick News reported that Georgia Ports Authority Chief Administrative Officer James McCurry Jr. discussed findings from a state fire marshal’s report with Glynn County commissioners.
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The authority owned the East River Terminal in Brunswick, which burned.
McCurry said the report found concerns about the height of pellet stacks and how they were managed. He also said water pressure was low when firefighters battled the blaze.
McCurry said pellets can’t be stored outside because they break down in rain. He said the amount of pellets stored in a remaining building will be limited.
McCurry said port officials haven’t decided if they will rebuild.
I-TEAM: Site of Brunswick warehouse blaze has history of fires
Firefighters from several counties battled a blaze that filled the sky with flames and smoke from a warehouse larger than a city block. The warehouse was used by Canadian company Logistec to store pellets awaiting shipment to Europe to be burned to generate electricity.
Officials have said the blaze resulted from spontaneous combustion from heat inside the huge pellet pile. The burned warehouse was built in 2016 to replace two buildings destroyed by a previous wood-pellet fire in July 2015.