Test shows noxious air from raging fire

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Nearly two weeks after a raging industrial fire filled a Buffalo neighborhood with thick, black smoke, results from an air quality test are finally in .

“We found higher levels of benzene than the EPA says is safe for short-term exposure, and we also found compounds that magnify the effects of benzene,” said Erin Heaney, executive director of Clean Air Coalition of WNY.

Some of those compounds include acetone and xylene, which impacts the neurological system, and chloromethane, which can cause liver and kidney damage. The sample may not even show the full extent of the pollution, because it was taken six blocks away from the fire.

  >>  See photos from the industrial blaze

Neighborhood resident Karen Majerowski said, “I'm kind of a little nervous about it, because that was only a three-minute sample, and that fire burned for 23 hours. Not only that, we actually still can smell it.”

No other environmental tests have been done since the fire, so nobody knows for sure how much toxicity is still lingering in the neighborhood.

That's a failure on everyone's part, according to City Councilman Joe Golombek, who represents the area. Golombek said, “Obviously, somebody dropped the ball somewhere, and we need to find out who.”