Corporal Thomas Owen Pilkington

Thomas Owen Pilkington

Corporal Thomas Pilkington died as a result of health complications he received from responding to the Wade Dump Fire on February 2, 1978.

Corporal Pilkington was assigned to direct traffic on the smoke-shrouded Commodore Barry Bridge during the fire. Throughout the clean-up and investigation, he was assigned to a local health officer to assist in gathering chemical samples.

He was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and peripheral neuropathy in 1990 and died as a result on August 13, 1993. The health officer was also diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in 1993 and died on October 5, 1994.

Corporal Pilkington was a United States Army veteran. He was survived by his wife.

At 3:44 pm, members of the Chester Fire Department responded to 1 Flower Street for a fire at a rubber recycling facility directly below the Commodore Barry Bridge. It was unknown to first responders that more than 3,000,000 gallons of toxic chemical waste were being stored on the site. At least 230 first responders responded to the fire that took firefighters 10 hours to get under control. During the response, firefighters were driven back due to exploding 55-gallon drums. One warehouse was destroyed, and two other warehouses were damaged in the fire.

Investigators discovered more than 18,000 drums of toxic chemicals, tanker trucks leaking chemical waste into the ground, and ditches that had been dug to dump chemicals into the Delaware River.

In August 1980, the owner of the property was convicted of risking a catastrophe, failing to prevent a catastrophe, and for violating the Clean Water Act. He was fined $30,000 and sentenced to one to two years in the county prison.