Black Lane owner: Battery charging station likely cause of fire

The owner of a Caseyville salvage yard said he believes a battery charging station was likely to blame for a five-alarm fire Thursday at his business.

“That is where it came from,” John McDaniels, owner of Black Lane Auto Parts, said. “In the area of the charging station.”

McDaniels said the fire, which started at about 1 p.m., won’t stop his business from operating normally.

“We’ve got nine to 10 people who work here,” McDaniels said. “We’re going to keep going, keep everybody busy.”

McDaniels said an insurance adjuster is expected to visit Friday. He won’t know until after that happens what his plans to replace the burned building will be.

“I don’t know,” McDaniels said. “This is all so new still.”

St. Clair County Emergency Service Director Herb Simmons said a quick response from the county’s hazardous materials response team appears to have been successful in containing a waste oil spill caused by the fire.

“I believe they did everything they had to do to keep it contained,” Simmons said. He added that it appears oil was prevented from reaching the area’s water system. A Caseyville Water Department pumping station is not far from the site of the fire at 1880 Black Lane.

McDaniels disputed initial fire department reports that the waste oil was being stored in 55-gallon drums inside the building that burned.

He said the oil, which was being collected to be used during the winter to fuel heaters, was held in a big, plastic storage tank. About 150 gallons of used motor oil was in the tank at the time it melted because of heat from the fire.

Explosions during the blaze were caused not by oil drums exploding, McDaniels said, but because of gas tanks, batteries and tires from cars that were being disassembled for salvage in the building.

Black Lane Auto Parts was founded at the site in 1965. According to the company’s website, it had previously been struck by another fire as well as a tornado and flooding.

Between 800 and 1,000 cars are processed at the site a year.

This story was originally published July 24, 2015 at 10:38 AM with the headline "Black Lane owner: Battery charging station likely cause of fire."