After fire, town aims to close facility

A fire at a Yaphank mulch facility Thursday morning prompted the Town of Brookhaven to again call for it to be closed.

"This facility is operating in flagrant violation of our town code and I urge the court to close it down in order to avoid another incident like today's fire," Supervisor Mark Lesko said in a statement.

The fire, in a four-story high mulch pile at Beaver Industries on Main Street, was reported at 9:30 a.m. The Yaphank Fire Department and 13 volunteer forces from several Suffolk County fire departments -- including Middle Island, Gordon Heights, Manorville, Mastic Beach, Sag Harbor and Ridge -- responded, police and fire officials said.

Daniel O'Brien, an attorney for property owner Edward Hololob, who does not operate the business, said the facility was operating within the law.

First Assistant Fire Chief Matt Quinn of the Yaphank Fire Department said the fire was in a pile of mulch about 40 feet high.

He said it was not clear how the fire began, but it was not unusual for spontaneous combustion to cause fires at such facilities.

The fire was under control by 3:30 p.m., Quinn said.

Residents of the area around the mulching facility have complained of noise, odors and truck traffic. The town sued last year to shut it down.

State Supreme Court Justice Daniel Martin, sitting in Riverhead, denied the town's request for a temporary injunction that would have closed the facility while the court action proceeded, but he has not yet ruled on the merits of the town's request for a permanent injunction to close it down.

The town has also issued four summonses to the owner: for not having a site plan, not having a certificate of occupancy, for operating in a residential area and for litter. O'Brien said those summonses will not be acted on until the judge rules on the town's request for a permanent injunction.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation said Thursday the facility is not under its jurisdiction. The facility is among the 133 across Long Island where yard waste and clean demolition debris are recycled.