A four-alarm fire devastated Niagara Lubricants factory in Buffalo, N.Y., on July 13, but competitors and suppliers are helping the company get back up and running.
Were working with some competitors, believe it or not, who are basically letting us move in, so well be taking care of customers almost immediately, Niagara Lubricant Co. Inc. President Leon Smith III told Lube Report. So within a month, we should be taking care of almost every single customer, through the generosity of our competitors and suppliers, and customers actually. Were not waiting for anything. Smith said that while he cant name the helpful competitors, they are both from the region and from all over.
Damage from the fire was estimated at $4 million to $8 million, according to Smith.
Garnell Whitfield Jr., commissioner of the Buffalo Fire Department, said the department was called at 5:50 a.m. on July 13 to respond to the Niagara Lubricant fire. Initially a one-alarm fire, it eventually became a four-alarm incident. The cause remains under investigation, according to Whitfield.
We had the airport crash truck on scene providing foam for us, and we had the Air Force crash truck based here, so we had multiple agencies here assisting us with this fire, he told Lube Report. We were actively fighting the fire for just under 18 hours. I think we topped out at about 110 to 115 personnel.
They had some vats of oil, approximately 300 gallons in size, and some 200-pound containers of grease, Whitfield said. One of the estimates was that close to half a million gallons of this stuff all told was inside this facility.
The building has three floors and a basement, and the fire spread throughout the facility, Whitfield noted.
The building that caught fire had 40,000 square feet of space. A variety of products were involved in the fire, said Niagara Lubricants Smith, including additives, base oils, greases and waxes. The other two buildings were saved, Smith noted. One is a grease production and oil production building that has kettles, and the other is offices.
Smith said the company has about 30 to 40 employees at the site at any given time. Nobody was injured whatsoever in the fire, he emphasized.
The preliminary stages of an investigation into the fire have begun. We have a number of agencies here involved in investigation and mitigation of the environmental impact of this fire, Commissioner Whitfield stated Friday. He said they included local Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents, a national ATF response team, the Fire Marshals Office, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation office, EPA and CSX Railroad.
According to its web site, Niagara Lubricant manufactures and packages lubricating oils, greases, industrial oils and tire care products, and has been in business since 1923. The company said its products are used across the United States and Canada, as well as in Europe, South America, Africa and the Middle East.
In the 1980s, the company purchased the former Quaker State grease facility on Chandler Street in Buffalos Black Rock section. The facility at one time housed the Enterprise Oil Co., which later joined 18 other companies in forming Quaker State Oil Co. in the 1920s. After some plant modifications, Niagara Lubricant consolidated all its operations at the Chandler Street site.