The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency gave the all-clear to Southern Berkshire County at 5 p.m. on Thursday, after people there had been warned to stay inside because of a smoke plume from a fire in New York state.

The fire engulfed a transformer recycling company in New York's Hudson Valley on Thursday, spewing noxious fumes that traveled eastward over Southern Berkshire County.

In New York, the Columbia County Emergency Management Office had also lifted its advisory, telling residents they may resume normal activities. Officials in New York said tests of soot from the fire show no evidence of PCB contamination. Tests results for dioxin, a potential byproduct of the burning, are expected by Friday.

Officials at the scene

State and local agents meet at the West Stockbridge Town Hall on Thursday morning to discuss the air quality testing plan in Southern Berkshire County. A fire at a recycling plant in West Ghent, N.Y., threatened to spew noxious fumes over that area. Officials said they would set up air-quality monitoring stations in South County towns located near the New York border, but advised residents to keep indoors from the Mass. Turnpike south to the Connecticut state line. (Ben Garver / Berkshire Eagle Staff)
of the fire in West Ghent, N.Y., along with Massachusetts authorities, confirmed the fire was 99 percent out around 2 p.m. Thursday.

Officials had advised people, especially those with respiratory problems, in Southern Berkshire County, east and south of Alford and Great Barrington, to remain indoors as a precaution until officials gave the OK. West Ghent is located about 10 miles west of the New York state border along Southern Berkshire County.

A Massachusetts response team, whose members donned protective suits, fanned out in parts of Southern Berkshire County to test soil and air. Final results were expected back from a state lab on Friday morning, but officials monitoring the situation from a command post in West Stockbridge received word from MEMA that there was no serious threat.

A Great Barrington emergency management team issued reverse 9-1-1 telephone calls around 5 a.m. on Thursday to alert residents about the fire and the prospect that fumes may drift toward Southern Berkshire County

Some businesses decided to close out of concern for the air quality. The Price Chopper in Great Barrington was closed until the air quality advisory was lifted. The West Stockbridge farmers market also closed for the

Firefighters work on a blase at at TCI of New York, a transformer recycling company, early Thursday morning, Aug. 2, 2012 in the Hudson Valley town of West Ghent, N.Y. Columbia County officials declared a state of emergency for the town of Ghent Thursday, where residents were being told to remain indoors to avoid noxious fumes spewing over the rural community. Emergency officials say tests are being conducted to determine if the debris was hazardous. (AP Photo/Lance Wheeler) (Lance Wheeler)
day, according to Bob Tibo who runs the market.

The Berkshire County Emergency Response Team met at 11:30 a.m. Thursday in West Stockbridge, along with agencies such as the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and members of the Berkshire County hazardous materials team.

In West Ghent, the fire broke out around 10:15 p.m. Wednesday at TCI of New York. The cause remains under investigation. TCI is located in a small industrial park amid the rural countryside 25 miles south of Albany.

Firefighters at the scene last night described a series of explosions and a fireball rising hundreds of feet into the sky.

TCI disposes of electrical equipment containing polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. PCBs were once used as coolants in electrical equipment and are a suspected carcinogen.

Forty homes were evacuated in a one-mile radius of the plant.

Eagle writers Jenn Smith, Clarence Fanto, Ben Garver, Scott Stafford and Kevin Moran contributed to this report. Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.