cleanup · Erie County
Morgan Materials / Hertel Warehouse
Buffalo and Tonawanda
Seven connected warehouses accumulated millions of pounds of surplus and off-specification chemicals—including leaking, unlabeled, and incompatible containers—near homes and schools.
The documented story
What happened here?
Morgan Materials bought surplus, excess, and off-specification chemicals in hopes of reselling them. The inventory accumulated inside seven connected warehouses on roughly eight acres near Vulcan Street and Hertel Avenue, in a mixed industrial and residential setting near schools.
A 2016 multi-agency inspection found containers that were unlabeled, leaking, overstacked, or stored incompatibly. A state enforcement record described approximately 13 million pounds of material, some stored for more than two decades, and flammable liquids near a natural-gas furnace.
The emergency was not a conventional buried dump: the immediate danger was the warehouse inventory itself—fire, reaction, worker exposure, and uncontrolled release. After that material was removed, DEC opened a separate chapter concerning contamination remaining in soil and groundwater.
A warehouse emergency ended; a subsurface cleanup remained
Morgan Materials accumulated surplus chemicals until incompatible storage became an immediate hazard
Millions of poundshazardous and nonhazardous material removed or recycled by EPA
Before 2016
A resale business turned connected warehouses into a chemical inventory
Morgan Materials purchased surplus and off-specification products. Containers of varied age, labeling, and compatibility accumulated across the complex, making storage condition as important as any single chemical.
2016-2018
Emergency response addressed fire, reaction, and release risks
EPA and DEC encountered leaking, unlabeled, and incompatible materials. Crews characterized, separated, stabilized, removed, recycled, or disposed of millions of pounds before the warehouse response was completed.
2018-present
Removing containers did not answer every subsurface question
DEC listed the remaining site Class 2 and continued investigating soil and groundwater for chlorinated VOCs, vinyl chloride, PCBs, PAHs, and metals. A final long-term remedy should follow that investigation rather than the warehouse closeout alone.
News record
Major news events
Coverage selected here marks a turning point in public awareness, policy, enforcement, employment, or cleanup. Links open at the original publisher or archive; WNYAtlas does not reproduce restricted articles or images.
EPA completes removal of a warehouse-scale chemical hazard
EPA said thousands of containers had posed a danger near homes and schools and reported recycling about nine million pounds of material with assistance from 36 companies.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency news archive ↗Chemical guide
Chemicals named in this record
These links explain potential hazards and exposure pathways. A chemical named in a record does not establish that anyone was exposed or harmed.
Chronology
Timeline
- 1990s–2001
Morgan Materials accumulated surplus chemicals at multiple Buffalo-area locations; earlier EPA actions removed thousands of drums from related warehouses.
- July–November 2016
Fire, environmental, emergency-management, sewer, labor, and local officials inspected the Vulcan Street complex. DEC ordered the company to correct an imminent danger; EPA assumed site security and stabilization when it did not comply.
- 2016–2018
EPA cataloged, segregated, recycled, and disposed of the warehouse inventory, using air monitoring and fire controls while thousands of containers were moved.
- July 2018
EPA reported recycling approximately nine million pounds of material through cooperation with 36 manufacturers and companies.
- 2018–present
New York listed the remaining subsurface property as Class 2 and continued investigation of soil and groundwater.
Environmental record
Documented impacts
- EPA documented flammable, corrosive, oxidizing, leaking, unlabeled, and incompatibly stored materials, creating fire and reaction hazards before any subsurface question was resolved.
- DEC lists chlorinated VOCs, vinyl chloride, PCBs, PAHs, barium, copper, and manganese in the regulated-site record.
- The approximately 13-million-pound inventory estimate and EPA's nine-million-pound recycling figure describe different stages and categories; they should not be presented as contradictory totals.
- The completed container removal did not resolve every soil and groundwater condition beneath the warehouse complex.
Response
Cleanup and controls
- EPA provided around-the-clock security, utilities, fire-system support, air monitoring, and chemical segregation during stabilization.
- Manufacturers reclaimed usable material; orphaned, unknown, and waste containers were characterized and sent to permitted facilities.
- DEC's later investigation addresses subsurface contamination separately from the completed warehouse removal.
Then and now
The site today
Stored containers were removed, while the Class 2 subsurface investigation continues.