Expired Hand Sanitizer Fuels Fire: Chickasha Community Seeks Justice 1 Year Later

It’s been one year since a manufacturing building in Chickasha went up in flames. The fire was fueled by the expired hand sanitizer stored inside. 

Now, a year later a Chickasha resident hopes the case isn’t being forgotten.

The décor at Muscle Car Ranch is not typical. What is typical is its owner, Curtis Hart, patrolling the 82 acres.

“We ought to be able to keep safe our own land,” he said.

But it’s the land next to Hart that concerns him the most. 

The property is one of three sites the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality alleges Bordwine Development Inc. illegally stored and disposed of massive amounts of hand sanitizer.

The investigation into the business was brought to public attention on August 7, 2022.

“It wasn’t just a little bit of chemical. It was a massive fire,” said Hart.

Chickasha Manufacturing, one of the sites, went up in flames.

H&B Manufacturing in Ninnekah, caught fire weeks later.

“What do I want to see happen? What should happen,” Hart said. “In my world, fix what you mess up.”

Following the fires, an Emergency Order was filed by DEQ. It halted all shipments, transportation and disposal of sanitizer by Bordwine.

An Administrative Compliance Order followed.

It said Bordwine must submit plans for the remaining sanitizer and “identify, remove and remediate” the locations affected.

It also penalizes the company more than $6.6 million.

The attorney for Bordwine Development Inc. says the order was appealed until they can make their case to an Administrative Law Judge.

While DEQ says it does not routinely test the soil and water, an investigator visits weekly to keep an inventory and to monitor for any movement of hand sanitizer on or off site. 

In the meantime, Hart hopes for a quicker outcome and more transparency.

“There’s no way this isn’t going to be in the water tables,” he says. “Tell the people where this is at.”

The attorney for Bordwine Development Inc., Peter Scimeca, tells News 9 a hearing on the case was delayed as they wait on a deposition from a partner company. It’s one that he says will be critical to their case.

Until then, he says they've been working with DEQ and have made significant remediation progress.

See the full statement from Scimeca here:

Bordwine Development, Inc. (“BDI”) made significant remediation progress on both the Chickasha Manufacturing, H & B Manufacturing sites and its home office. The building surface is cleared at both Chickasha Manufacturing and H & B. A testing plan and removal of remaining hand sanitizer was submitted to DEQ for review and approval at all three sites. No contamination of any ground water occurred because of the fires as sanitizer either evaporated or burned off. Further, any remaining hand sanitizer awaiting disposal is packaged or in large secure totes. Finally, we all basically bathed in hand sanitizer for two years and the tail pipe of our cars could put out far more dangerous chemicals each minute than a bottle of hand sanitizer contains. Without BDI knowledge an unscrupulous company potentially caused a relatively small amount of contaminated hand sanitizer to be shipped into our facilities. BDI believes the vast majority of this is either burn off or still secured in bottles but will be taken care of. The only reason this product is labeled hazardous waste is because of the flash point of ethanol, not the contents of the remaining ingredients. We hope this helps calm any legitimate fears folks may have about this situation. 

A date to go before the Administrative Law Judge will be set on September 20th.