Cayce, SC (WLTX) - A recycling plant fire that lasted almost 48 hours is out, but now the City of Cayce is having to deal with the aftermath.
"We quickly knew that the fire was pretty large and that we needed assistance and we put that call out and the response was absolutely overwhelming," said Mayor Elise Partin.
On Friday, smoke filled the air from the fire at the World Wide Recycling plant in Cayce; now, only dust from a demolished building remains.
"Certainly these kinds of emergencies you take care of them first, peoples safety and that's what we did," said Partin. "We are still working with clean up, we are still working with DHEC, we are happy that there was no air quality issues of concern from DHEC. "
The potentially contaminated water from that fire will end up in the Congaree River. The city is having to borrow water from other cities as a precaution.
"We ask people to restrict their water to necessary uses right now and certainly nothing outside like watering lawns or washing cars until we get out plant back online. "
Dana Panas lives close to the recycling center and says she is concerned about the air quality but more about the water.
"It smelled like plastic really bad but since it rained last night I cant really smell it anymore, but I am just going drink bottled water for the next couple of days or a week or too and give them time to clean it up if there is any contaminated," said Panas.
She says the city handled the fire well.
"I am just happy that the city did take precautions and decided to use other cities water to keep people safe. "
The city hired a company out of Charlotte to handle the cleanup. Cayce Department of Public Safety is still investigating the cause of the fire.