2 face charges in chemical explosion, fire at Modesto waste facility

Two people are accused of facilitating an illegal dump of hazardous materials at a Stainlaus County facility, leading to a chemical explosion and fire, prosecutors announced on Thursday.

The Stanislaus County District said Henry Meeks and Phillip Whitmore allegedly facilitated the illegal dumping of 55-gallon drums filled with flammable powdered magnesium and aluminum. Prosecutors said Meeks is the owner of Advanced Materials Manufacturing Technologies, LLC (AM2T), while Whitemore is a manager. 

The explosion happened on March 27, 2025, leading to a fire at the Gilton's Resource Recovery Facility in Modesto. The drums came from the AM2T facility in Riverbank and were offloaded at the Gilton facility, prosecutors said. 

Prosecutors said employees near the drums when they exploded and caught fire were not aware they were filled with the highly flammable materials. One of the workers suffered minor injuries.

Fire crews initially tried to extinguish the fire with water, but that created a new danger as the water and chemicals created flammable hydrogen gas. This caused a second explosion. Firefighters instead used heavy equipment to cover it with dirt to put the flames out. 

No firefighters were injured in the incident. 

Meeks and Whitmore were charged with illegal storage, transporation and disposal of hazardous waste, prosecutors said. Whitmore has been arrested, while an arrest warrant was issued for Meeks, prosecutors said.