Weather radar captures smoke plume from Hewitt Soap Company fire

DAYTON — The massive Hewitt Soap Company fire was putting out so much thick smoke in to the sky over East Dayton, the National Weather Service weather radar in Wilmington, Ohio was able to capture it.

The patch of green pointing south in the radar picture in the video isn't rain, it's the Hewitt Soap Company smoke plume.

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It's the particles in the thick smoke that the radar detects, said Meteorologist Kirstie Zontini. The radar detects the smoke particles just as it detects rain or snow.

How the wind affected firefighters' job at Hewitt Soap factory How the wind affected firefighters' job at Hewitt Soap factory

The winds were blowing from the north-northeast, said Zontini, transporting the smoke cloud to the south-southwest.

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"The winds were blowing at approximately 10-20 miles per hour," added Meteorologist Kirstie Zontini.

That's why so many people could see the large smoke plume as far south as Miamisburg. We received reports of people able to see the smoke cloud from Tipp City. That's because the skies were so clear this cold morning.

The smoke was not deemed to be noxious or toxic.

In addition to the weather radar capturing the smoke plume, our weather camera on top of our Germantown television transmitter tower also captured images of the large smoke plume just as the sun was rising over Dayton.