DEP IDs parties responsible for mattresses at west Erie fire scene

May 15--ERIE, Pa. -- Officials with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection said they have identified two parties believed to be responsible for filling a west Erie warehouse complex with old mattresses that helped fuel a fire that leveled much of the structure, and endangered a neighboring residential area, in April.

Notices of Violations have been issued by the DEP to the complex owner, El Grande Enterprises, LLC, through its principal officer, Donald Lee Fitz-Simmons, of Phoenix, Ariz.; and to Simon Zysman, of Toronto, whom evidence identified as the person responsible for transporting the mattresses to Erie and storing them in the complex, according to information in the violation notices.

Both are responsible for cleaning up the remnants of mattresses that burned, along with the buildings housing them, when fire broke out in the complex, which is just north of the 1300 block of West 20th Street, on the afternoon of April 11, Melanie Williams, community relations coordinator in the DEP's northwest regional office in Meadville, said Friday.

The Erie Bureau of Fire and other city officials said they were unaware that thousands of mattresses were being stored in the sprawling complex until they learned of their presence on the day of the fire.

The blaze, which officials said was fanned by winds from the west and fueled by the mattresses, destroyed the eastern portion of the complex but was kept from spreading to the homes to the south. A roughly 20,000-square-foot building on the western edge of the complex was also spared, but it was found to contain an estimated 1,200 to 1,400 mattresses, Erie Chief Fire Inspector Guy Santone said two days after the fire.

The fire "generated uncontrolled flames and pollutant emissions that directly threatened human health, adjoining properties and the environment," DEP officials wrote in the violation notices.

The notices, mailed in late April, advise Fitz-Simmons and Zysman -- neither of whom could be reached for comment Friday -- that the used mattresses met the definition of municipal waste under Pennsylvania's Solid Waste Management Act; and that the storage of waste for longer than one year constitutes disposal under the act.

The notices inform Fitz-Simmons and Zysman of the violations pertaining to the improper storage and disposal of the mattresses, and the need to correct the matter. They do not impose or waive any enforcement action.

Williams said Friday that Zysman has agreed to submit a detailed plan for removing and disposing of or recycling the remaining mattresses on site.

According to the violation notice sent to Zysman, the DEP's investigation revealed that, starting in 2013, numerous tractor-trailer loads of used mattresses were brought to the warehouse complex from Canada. The notice does not state what the plans were for disposing of the mattresses. But Santone said in mid-April that city officials received reports that the mattresses were supposed to go to a company in Chicago for disposal, but the company went bankrupt, and the mattresses remained in Erie.

The cause of the April 11 fire remains under investigation, Erie Fire Inspector John Widomski said Friday.

Also still under investigation Friday was Erie's second major fire of 2016, a Feb. 5 blaze that leveled the Fred's Beds & Furniture store at 117 E. 12th St. The investigation by Erie fire inspectors, Erie Bureau of Police detectives and agents with the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives determined the fire was intentionally set.

An offer made by Nationwide Property Casualty Insurance Co. in late April of up to a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for setting the fire has generated a number of calls and some helpful information, Erie police Lt. Dan Spizarny said Friday. The investigation is "progressing," Spizarny added.

TIM HAHN can be reached at 870-1731 or by email. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNhahn.

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