Calgary firefighters are working to extinguish a blaze at a construction debris recycling plant in Quarry Park.
Crews were called to the ECCO Recycling plant on 24 Street Southeast just after 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday and arrived to find multiple bales of compressed recyclables on fire.
According to the Calgary Fire Department (CFD), two trucks — called tenders — had to be used to shuttle in water because the nearest fire hydrants were some 500 metres away.
ECCO Recycling plant owner Alec McDougall told Global News he thinks a thunderstorm that rolled through the community was to blame for the fire.
“We think last night, lightning went through — a storm went through — and it got the corner of the balefill,” McDougall said.
He added that fires at the facility are “fairly common.”
“We’ve probably had 10 or 12 fires here — we’ve been here 27 years.”
He said bulldozers were used to spread the piles of burning rubble so the flames could be doused by firefighters.
Firefighters used a thermal-imaging camera to find hot spots as the burning recyclables were moved and exposed.
“The challenge is that there are many bales in big piles located on the property, which cover a large area,” a Wednesday news release from the CFD explained. “This makes it difficult to gain quick access to the moving fire.”
Firefighters battle a blaze at the ECCO Recycling plant in Quarry Park on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2019.Firefighters battled the blaze throughout the night and remained on scene working to extinguish it as of noon on Wednesday.
“The Calgary Fire Department hazardous materials team is on-site performing air monitoring, and an environmental protection officer from Alberta Environment and Parks is also on scene.”
No injuries were reported.
– With files from Matthew Conrod