MARTINS FERRY — City officials plan to visit Austin Master Services LLC today in an effort to formulate a plan to react in the event of an emergency there.

Mayor John Davies told Martins Ferry City Council on Wednesday that Fire Chief I Ron Hilton and Chief II Justin Smith will enter the building with a retired fire chief from Youngstown who is a hazardous materials specialist. They expect to be joined by personnel from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Oil & Gas Resources Management.

The oil and gas drilling waste processing company is housed in a portion of the former Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel mill at 4K Industrial Park along First Street in Martins Ferry. ODNR inspections on Feb. 7 and March 15 revealed that a “substantial” amount of waste had been accepted and piled up “beyond the containment walls” inside the plant, according to court testimony by Tara Lee, assistant chief of the ODNR Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management.

That led to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filing a complaint in Belmont County Common Pleas Court on behalf of the division, asking the court to halt the company’s operations and order the excess waste cleaned up. Judge John Vavra set an April 17 deadline for that work to be completed. The deadline was not met.

Austin Master’s operating permit states that it can store up to 600 tons of oilfield waste products. Estimates indicate that the company has around 10,000 tons of waste, some of which is radioactive, on site.

Davies said Ohio Revised Code 3737.14 grants the fire chiefs the right to enter and examine the facility for safety purposes. That section of code states, in part: “The fire marshal, any assistant fire marshal, the chief of the fire department of each municipal corporation where a fire department is established, the chief of the fire department in each township where a fire department is established, and such members of any such departments as may be designated by such chief, the fire prevention officer of a municipal corporation where no fire department exists, or the fire prevention officer of a township where no fire department is established, at all reasonable hours, may enter into all buildings and upon all premises and vehicles within their jurisdiction for the purpose of examination.”

Davies also provided a copy of a letter he sent to ODNR informing the agency of the planned visit, as well as a copy of an emailed response, stating that division personnel would attend the inspection as well.

“Basically it is for fire safety and it is to educate our people in case there would be a fire in the building that … we’re going to be entering the building not blindly,” Davies explained after the council meeting. “You have to remember, when there’s a fire, the first thing you do is shut off the electric and the gas. So that means the building’s dark.”

City Service and Safety Director Andy Sutak said the point of the visit is to ensure first responders are prepared.

“They’ll probably put some kind of contingency plan together for a fire,” he said.

“We’re not going in there to identify the hazards, so to speak,” Davies added. “That’s ODNR. … But our fire department and our chiefs are allowed to enter the building. They don’t have to ask anybody.”

Davies said officials need to make a plan in case of a fire, so that firefighters will know whether to use water or other materials such as foam to battle any potential blaze at the site. He pointed out that some substances can be volatile when exposed to water and that water can dissolve chemicals and cause them to spread and flow outside of the area where they had been contained.

“We have to put together a plan to keep our citizens and our firefighters safe,” he continued.

He said Sutak summed up the city’s goal as such: “We just need to work together, get it cleaned up and get on with life.”

Davies also noted during the council meeting that 4K Industrial has said that it will not lease the facility to another company that handles oil and gas drilling waste.

In May, Vavra ruled that Austin Master Services LLC would be fined $200 a day and its CEO would spend 30 days in jail unless the oil and gas waste at the facility is reduced to permitted levels by July 22. Vavra found that the company and Brad J. Domitrovitsch, CEO of parent company American Environmental Partners Inc., were both in contempt of court for failing to meet the court-ordered April 17 deadline to clean up the facility. Vavra said the daily fine would be implemented immediately and continue until the amount of waste at the site is determined by the ODNR division to be within the limits of its permit.