Fire destroys Hiram Hollow transfer station

GANSEVOORT, N.Y. » More than a half-dozen area fire companies responded to a large blaze that destroyed the privatelyowned Hiram Hollow Transfer Station at 150 Washburn Road.

The facility, owned by Rutland, Vt.-based Casella Waste Systems, primarily takes in construction debris, municipal solid waste and large household items such as old furniture.

The blaze, first reported at 1:39 a.m. Friday, was caused by a truck electrical short that quickly spread through the garbage-filled metal building.

“It was fully involved when we got there,” Wilton Fire Chief Scott Brackett said. “I called in South Glens Falls, Gansevoort, Maple Avenue, Schuylerville Hose, West Glens Falls and Corinth fire companies, for their tanker trucks, and Malta Ridge was on standby.”

Firefighters stayed on the scene for more than 12 hours, struggling to extinguish the smoldering mess, he said.

Two tractor-trailers, a front-end loader and excavator were destroyed. A Wilton Highway Department loader was brought in to scoop large piles of debris from the building, Brackett said.

The building had five bays

vehicles could enter to unload waste. The rear of the building had a 15-foot dropoff that waste was pushed into, before being loaded onto large trucks for final disposal elsewhere.

The site has been closed and it’s not immediately known if or when Casella plans to reopen it.

“The town (Wilton) has condemned the building because of the severe heat,” Brackett said.

PAUL POST -- PPOST@DIGITALFIRSTMEDIA.COM A large pile of twisted metal is all that remains of a former disposal building following large fire at Hiram Hollow Transfer Station in Gansevoort.

PAUL POST -- PPOST@DIGITALFIRSTMEDIA.COM Heavy equipment moves twisted metal rubble from a building destroyed by fire at Hiram Hollow Transfer Station in Gansevoort.