TONAWANDA, N.Y. — A fire at the former Tonawanda coke plant will be investigated by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Smoke was seen coming from the site around 4 p.m. Tuesday.
In a tweet, the DEC said a clean-up team and environmental police were called in to check it out, along with a few local fire departments.
They added that crews would assess the potential environmental impact of the fire and provide an update when the investigation is complete.
A portion of River Road near the shuttered plant, now the Riverview Innovation and Technology Campus was closed Tuesday while crews were at the scene.
The Clean-Air Coalition of Western New York expressed concern about the fire late Tuesday and urged the state to collect air samples at the site and downwind of the facility.
In a statement, the group said, "while accidents do happen, such a large scale fire is cause for concern as unaddressed hazardous waste has proven to be a major problem at the site."
The former coke plant's prominent smokestacks were toppled just over two months ago and prompted similar environmental concerns.
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