Expired hand sanitizer leak at upstate New York warehouse sparks multi-day fire
Leak at Eco Operations in Gorham sent a stream of flame into a roadside ditch; town had cited the facility and alerted the EPA months earlier
An expired hand sanitizer leak from a warehouse in Gorham, New York, ignited a fire that sent a stream of flame into a roadside ditch and burned for days, local officials and reports said.
The incident occurred on Aug. 30 at Eco Operations, a storage facility in the Finger Lakes region that town officials had previously cited for regulatory violations. Fire crews worked over multiple days to bring the blaze under control after flammable sanitizer leaked from the building and was ignited, producing a visible line of fire along a drainage ditch adjacent to the property.
Eco Operations, owned by Eduard Zaydman, has been the subject of local regulatory scrutiny throughout the summer. In May, Zaydman told the Gorham Planning Board, "There is no danger. It is not really flammable because it’s 30% water. It is very difficult to light that up." At a June meeting, Planning Board Chairman Thomas Harvey warned about stored alcohol-based products, saying, "There is so much stuff in there and it’s alcohol and it burns. It’s not probably explosive, but it will burn and if it catches on fire there is basically no way to put it out other than starving it from oxygen. There is enough quantity in that building that once it starts to go, it’s going to go," according to local reports.
The town of Gorham reported multiple violations related to the facility and notified the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in July that a removal action might be warranted. Officials said the notifications reflected concerns about compliance and the potential for environmental harm from stored materials.
Local firefighters and emergency responders focused on extinguishing active flames and preventing the fire from spreading to nearby properties and vegetation. Fire officials described the conflagration as unusually persistent because of the presence of large amounts of alcohol-based product and the challenge of accessing ignition sources and smoldering materials within the storage facility.
Authorities have said crews worked to limit runoff and protect nearby watercourses, given the proximity of the ditch that carried burning material away from the building. The presence of flammable liquid in drainage infrastructure raised concerns among residents and municipal officials about potential soil and water contamination, although formal assessments of ecological or public-health impacts have not yet been released.
The incident underscores longstanding tensions between the property owner and local regulators over storage practices and environmental safeguards at the site. Town notices and the EPA notification in July reflected those concerns; the August leak and subsequent blaze prompted renewed scrutiny of compliance, storage protocols and emergency preparedness.
Investigations into the cause of the ignition and the full extent of environmental damage are expected to involve local fire authorities, the town and state and federal environmental agencies. Officials have said removal or remediation actions could follow pending assessments of contamination and hazard to the community.
Residents in the surrounding area reported smoke and an acrid odor at the time of the fire. Local news outlets covering the incident quoted municipal officials and documented the visual impact of the ditch fire, drawing attention to the potential dangers posed by large inventories of alcohol-based products stored without adequate safeguards.
The Eco Operations site had been the subject of town meetings and regulatory attention for months before the fire. Town representatives have not released a full inventory of materials stored at the facility, and the property owner has offered assurances in meetings that risks were limited. The contrast between those assurances and the scale of the August incident has prompted calls from some officials for stricter enforcement and a thorough environmental review.
As response and assessment efforts continue, municipal and state agencies are expected to coordinate with federal regulators to determine the scope of cleanup and any enforcement actions. Fire suppression teams declared the active blaze controlled after several days, and subsequent work has focused on extinguishing smoldering materials, managing contaminated runoff and initiating damage and contamination assessments.