Category Archives: Recycling / Waste Facility

Other Business, Recycling / Waste Facility

South Lake Tahoe, CA – Fire at refuse center confined to garbage truck by sprinkler system

Fire agencies responded to a fire at South Tahoe Refuse on Ruth Avenue earlier Tuesday  evening.  According to South Lake Tahoe Fire Chief Jeff Meston, the fire started at approximately 6:30 p.m.

The city called in assistance from Tahoe-Douglas Fire Protection District, Lake Valley Fire Protection District, Fallen Leaf Fire Department and CalFire.

“The fire was controlled by fire suppression sprinkler system and we were able to confine it to the garbage truck itself,” Meston said.

The department suspects the fire was caused an accumulation of materials between the truck’s cab and body.

 

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Fitchburg, MA – Recycling plant fire contained by sprinkler system

Crews returning from a box alarm call noticed smoke pouring out of AKS Recycling and reacted quickly, extinguishing a fire in the Cobbler Dr. building early Sunday morning.

Fire fighters were on the way back to the station after checking in on an alarm at Steel-Fab on Crawford St. just before 6 a.m. when they saw smoke coming from AKS Recycling, according to Deputy Chief Dave Gravel. The building’s sprinkler system had activated, containing the fire and keeping it from spreading, he said.

With crews immediately at the scene, the fire was put out without any injuries. There has been no determination on what caused the fire at the recycling plant, but Gravel says it’s not believed to be suspicious.

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Orleans, MA – Sprinklers assist firefighters in controlling challenging recycling plant fire

Firefighters from the Lower Cape and Mid-Cape areas were tied up for hours after a pile of mattresses caught fire inside a recycling plant Saturday.

Around 1 p.m., rescuers responded to the Daniels Recycling Center building on Giddiah Hill Road after employees at the plant unsuccessfully tried to squelch the nearly ceiling-high pile of mattresses set to be recycled, Orleans Fire Chief Anthony Pike said.

The cause of the two-alarm fire was unknown, Pike added.  Firefighters equipped with breathing apparatus entered the warehouse and mostly knocked down the fire, which didn’t appear to damage the building, Pike said.

But because the mattresses and other debris were so compact, workers from the plant took front-end loaders and pulled pile after pile of the debris out of the building to the edge of the plant’s parking lot to be hosed down, Orleans Deputy Chief Geof Deering said.

The Red Cross was on scene with drinks and snacks for the rescuers, and one firefighter was being evaluated for exhaustion, Dennis Deputy Chief Robert Brown said.

The sprinkler system in the warehouse worked to help keep the fire from spreading, Pike said. Fire crews from Dennis, Eastham, Brewster, and Harwich aided Orleans at the scene. Crews from as far as Yarmouth were called in to cover the responding departments’ empty fire stations.

 

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Nantucket, MA – Sprinkler system helps knock down landfill fire

A construction debris fire this morning at the town landfill was slowed by a new sprinkler system, Nantucket Fire Chief Mark McDougal said.

“Having a system that activated right away saved us a lot of time and effort,” McDougal said.

Fires at the town landfill have, in the past, taken hours and even days to douse but a new building for the construction and building debris that included the sprinkler system made a big difference, he said.

“This wasn’t a big one,” McDougal said about the fire. No one was injured.

The fire department was called at around 9 a.m. to the town property at 188 Madaket Road, McDougal said. The fire started in the far right corner of the building, and the cause has not yet been determined, he said. Possible causes include oily rags, discarded smoking materials or internal combustion, he said.

The fire department was on the scene for two and one-half hours.

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Louisville, KY – Sprinkler system credited with controlling fire at recycling plant

A three-alarm fire at a recycling center in Louisville is now under control.  Employees called 911 just before 7 p.m. Wednesday, after failing to extinguish a fire at Recycling Management Resources, or RMR, in the 500 block of Industry Road.

The sprinkler system is being credited for making what could have been a potentially bad situation controllable. Officials said that the fire could have been much worse considering the large inventory of cardboard and other paper products inside.

At the height of the blaze, more than 80 firefighters were working to put it out. There were 18 employees in the building at the time of the fire, but no injuries have been reported. The fire is under control, but fire crews said they will stay on the scene throughout the night.

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Springfield, MA – Recycling center fire kept from spreading by sprinkler system

City firefighters quickly extinguished a blaze at a Waste Management facility in East Springfield Thursday night. There were no injuries or major damage tied to the fire, which was reported at 8:17 p.m. at the automated material handling recycling center at 203 Tremont St.

“It ends up being a giant trash fire,” said Dennis G. Leger, executive aide to Springfield Fire Commissioner Joseph A. Conant. The facility’s sprinkler system kept the fire from spreading until crews arrived to extinguish the blaze, he said.

The fire wasn’t suspicious. It apparently began when a spark from a shredding operation at the recycling center ignited a bale of trash, Leger said.

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Charleston, SC – Sprinklers help contain fire at recycling plant

Firefighters from North Charleston, Charleston and Boeing worked Tuesday to put out a large fire at Sonoco Recycling plant.  The cause of the fire remains under investigation, according to North Charleston Fire Department spokeswoman Bianca Bourbeau.

Bourbeau said the sprinkler system in the building contained the fire where it started, but outside flames spread to outlying bales of recycled material.

Sonoco spokesman Brian Risinger said that he was grateful there were no injuries and he appreciated fire crews’ quick response at 2025 Tellico Road.

“At the time of this statement we understand the fire to be contained to a specific area of the facility and the fire department remains onsite and is making progress on extinguishing the fire,” he stated. “The only damage we are aware of is to our own facility.”

He added that the blaze would not interrupt ongoing recycling services in the area and that operations were expected to resume by the end of business Wednesday.

Sonoco was founded in 1899 and is a global provider of consumer packaging, industrial products, protective packaging and displays and packaging supply chain services, according to a media release.

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Durham, NC – Sprinkler system helps firefighting effort at recycling center

Durham firefighters were called at 7:57 p.m. to 4619 Industry Lane in response to a structure fire at Sonoco Recycling.

Once on scene firefighters determined that “moderate smoke” was coming from the rear of the building. Employees told firefighters where the fire started and that a piece of machinery used to bale recyclable material was on fire.

Firefighters were able to control the fire within about 10 minutes. A sprinkler system in the building helped the firefighting effort.

Fire investigators determined the cause of the fire was an overheated motor in a baler machine. No one was injured and only the machine and a “large amount of recyclable material” were damaged.

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Calgary, AB, Canada – Sprinkler system controls fire at plastics recycling plant; Fire crews extinguish blaze

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Calgary Fire Department crews were called to plastic recycling plant Carpenter Canada Co. in the 5880 block of 36th Street S.E. just before 2 a.m. last Friday. When they arrived, firefighters found smoke pouring from the building.

They managed to extinguish the fire, and credit an in-building sprinkler system for keeping the blaze in check before they arrived. Once the fire was extinguished, crews still had concerns about whether air quality would be impacted, as burning plastic can release toxic gases. However, fire officials say the air gradually cleared up.

Other Business, Recycling / Waste Facility

Worcester, MA – Cardboard fire at recycling center held in check by sprinkler system

With mutual aid from the Sutton Fire Department, the Worcester Fire Department easily contained and knocked down a smoldering fire in a huge pile of cardboard Tuesday at Rand-Whitney Recycling, 2 Pullman St.

Deputy Fire Chief John Sullivan credited Sutton Fire Department’s Mobile Ventilation Unit-LD, a hydraulic blower capable of pushing up to 150,000 cubic feet per minute from its blades, with greatly assisting Worcester Fire in taking control of the scene.

In addition, Mr. Sullivan said the building’s sprinkler system did its job and held the fire in check.