THUNDER BAY - Crews with Thunder Bay Fire Rescue were on the scene battling a fire that broke out in a scrap pile at a local business early Tuesday morning.
Crews responded to reports of a fire in one of the scrap piles at Dutchak Recycle on Hammond Avenue at approximately 10 a.m.
“Upon arrival, the first truck noticed it was a significantly larger fire than was first expected, that is why you now see four apparatus on scene and are trying to extinguish it,” said Thunder Bay Fire Rescue Platoon Chief, John Kaplanis.
“It’s a very stubborn fire because it is based in the bottom of that pile of scrap. It is deeply rooted, a lot of what is burning is plastic coating these metal windings and piles of wire basically. So we are flowing a lot of water and foam right now to keep the fire from spreading to the other piles of debris.”
Kaplanis added that the fire may have been caused by workers on the scene cutting the wire windings with a torch.
“That is the first report we got from police who were on scene,” he said. “We are going to investigate further into that. We have a Thunder Bay fire inspector on scene and they are investigating the cause.”
It was determined the fire was caused by hot metal slag from cutting operations igniting a tire and other petroleum based products in the scrap pile.
There are no reports of injuries and all staff at Dutchak Recycle were evacuated from the area, with the exception of one staff member using an excavator to help remove scrap from the area so fire crews can extinguish the fire.
“Our goal and our concern is the water body located adjacent nearby,” Kaplanis said. “We want to make sure we minimize the runoff into that water body. We will have a Ministry of the Environment inspector come down shortly to assist us with our investigation.”
A Ministry of the Environment invesgitator on the scene determined that no water or debris from firefighting efforts flowed to the nearby shoreline.
The fire was fully extinguished by 2 p.m. and crews have cleared the scene. Three pumpers and an aerial ladder responded to the fire.
