By S.P. Sullivan
nj.com
A deadly blaze at a trash facility near Newark airport last year was sparked when a New York trucking and warehouse operator dumped over 9,000 pounds of aerosol cans into a rented dumpster, state investigators said Thursday.
Mark Cadieux, of Lynbrook, New York, faces manslaughter charges and multiple environmental violations after authorities say he knowingly disposed of the cans, which contained pressurized dry shampoo, leading to the death of a 69-year-old Waste Management worker Czeslaw Solarz.
Cadieux, who has pleaded not guilty, was indicted by a state grand jury, authorities said. His attorney, Melissa S. Geller, said Cadieux looked forward to his day in court.
“We’re confident the state will be unable to meet their burden of proof in this case,” she said.
More than a year after the fire, authorities said they had collected “forensic evidence,” interviewed witnesses and reviewed surveillance footage from the area. The inquiry found Cadieux rented a dumpster in nearby Linden and filled it with the cans of dry shampoo in an apparent effort to dispose of them, authorities said.
Cadieux should have known the cans were highly combustible and that the manner in which he got rid of them qualified as dumping hazardous materials, which would have required permission from the state Department of Environmental Protection, authorities said.
State prosecutors called the case a “stark illustration” of the dangers of illegal dumping.
“This careless action resulted in a large quantity of highly flammable materials going into the waste stream, effectively sending the workers at this facility in Elizabeth a firebomb that was waiting to go off,” state Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement Thursday.
“And when it did, it had lethal consequences.”
The dumpster was then taken to the Waste Management facility on Julia Street in Elizabeth, where its contents ignited “within minutes” of being dumped out. Authorities say the facility handled a wide array of trash, but was not equipped to handle hazardous material.
The resulting 5-alarm fire burned through the afternoon and much of the evening, prompting evacuations in nearby homes and businesses, Elizabeth officials said at the time. Part of the building collapsed from the damage, further complicating the response.
The next day, Solarz’s body was found in the wreckage.
Born in Poland, Solarz — who went by “Chester” — emigrated to the U.S. in the late 80s and worked at the Elizabeth facility since 1989. He left behind a wife and three daughters, according to his obituary.
The charges were brought by the state Division of Criminal Justice’s environmental crimes unit.
Derek Nececkas, the interim head of the division, pledged to “hold polluters accountable, particularly when their disregard for dumping laws leads to an outcome as egregious as this — a fatal, massive blaze in one of New Jersey’s most populous urban areas.”
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