ROCHESTER -- Stephen Diaz, vice president and regional business manager at Covanta Energy, Sunday issued the following statement regarding the incident at the SEMASS Resource Recovery Facility.

"As reported, the fire at the facility started within one of the SEMASS garbage shredders just before 7pm on Saturday, March 31, 2007. SEMASS internal emergency responders were at the scene immediately and joined shortly thereafter by outside first responders. Smoke from the fire spread through the combustion air ducts within the facility, which contributed to the difficulty of containing the incident.

Since the time of the incident, the primary focus has been on containing the fire and working with area fire departments, local EPA and DEP officials and the Town of Rochester to ensure the safety of the surrounding community. We are grateful for the quick response by both our personnel, the fire department and local, state and federal officials. In addition, we are also happy to report that there have been no injuries associated with this incident.

At this time, we can report that the fire is contained and under control. Fire department officials have confirmed with us that there has been no evidence of hazardous fumes. In addition, EPA emergency personal have been monitoring the air quality around the site.

Although the fire is under control, our facility engineers will not have access to the affected portion of the facility until the fire department has deemed it safe for reentry. Since we have not been able to access that portion of the site, we are unable to determine the specific cause of this incident. Once we gain access to this area, we will conduct a complete assessment of the site and share our findings.

Beyond our efforts to address this incident, we have a contingency plan in place to satisfy the need for all of our municipal waste customers. In addition, we have been in contact with NSTAR and want to ensure local residents that there will be no power disruption for those homes that receive electricity from this facility.

Covanta takes safety very seriously. Despite this unfortunate incident, this facility has had an excellent safety record over its 20 year operating history. The SEMASS Resource Recovery Facility received an OSHA Star facility designation in 2000 and was recertified as a VPP Star in 2003, which are both considered the gold standard for the industry.

As further information becomes available, we will continue to brief the media on any relevant information and facts associated with this incident."