National City

The president of a National City auto recycling firm that was the site of a large fire last month pleaded not guilty Monday to charges that he illegally stored hazardous wastes on company premises for more than a year.

The San Diego County district attorney’s office earlier this month filed a misdemeanor complaint against Eduardo Gurria and Pacific Steel Co., alleging that company officials have knowingly stored auto shredder waste at its Cleveland Avenue yard since June 9, 1986.

The shredder waste, commonly called “fluff,” is a flammable mixture of plastics, glass, shredded upholstery and other non-metal auto parts. It contains hazardous levels of lead, copper and zinc and small amounts of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which are a suspected carcinogen.

On May 22, a fire at Pacific Steel’s yard burned for more than 20 hours and caused the evacuation of three schools as well as homes and businesses in the area. The fire began in a massive pile of scrap metal but was contained before it reached a mountain of fluff and caused the release of toxic fumes.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Josephine Kiernan said storage of the fluff violates state law regulating the handling and storage of hazardous waste. Gurria could receive up to a year in jail and a fine of as much as $25,000 for each day he was in violation of the statute, Kiernan said.

The charges resulted from a joint investigation by the district attorney’s office and the Hazardous Materials Management Unit of the county Department of Health Services. A hearing is set Aug. 18.