With no city hydrants in the area, a parade of six tanker trucks from surrounding fire departments made multiple trips to bring water to the blaze. The scrap yard’s front-end loaders and claw loaders pulled apart the blazing pile. The chunks of scrap were hosed down as firefighters systematically pulled apart the pile in the 90 degree heat.
It took at least 50,000 gallons of water hauled by tankers from Washington Twp., Jefferson Twp., Clayton, Moraine and West Carrollton departments, West Carrollton Fire Capt. Ed Huffman said.
The fire was reported sometime around 1:45 p.m. and was contained before 5 p.m.
West Carrollton Fire Chief Jack Keister said quick work by employees to cut a fire break in the piles of junk prevented it from spreading more.
“We very easily could have been here for a couple of days,” fighting the fire, he said.
Huffman said the fire started in “a hobnob of recycled refrigerators, cars and computer parts.”
Keister said the exact cause of the fire remains unknown and there will probably not be an ongoing investigation because it doesn’t appear that workers were doing anything careless.
“It just takes one spark. And on a hot day like this, it could be anything,” Keister said.
Metal Shredders accepts “junk automobiles and motor blocks brought with a wrecker or a trailer (gas tank and battery must be removed first),” according to the Montgomery County Solid Waste District web site. The business also accepts sheet metal, scrap aluminum, brass, copper, aluminum cans, washers and dryers.
This was the county’s second large scrap yard fire this year.
Huge piles of scrapped autos – many from the federal Cash for Clunkers program – ignited May 20 at Franklin Iron and Metal on East First Street in Dayton. It took firefighters a little less than two full days to put the fire out. In July, fire investigators ruled that the cause of the Franklin Iron and Metal fire was inconclusive.
“It’s the same kind of fire, same kind of operation except they had hydrants and we didn’t but we had a smaller pile to deal with,” Huffman said comparing the two fires. “We just had a smaller pile.”
A total of about 30 firefighters worked to control the fire, including all West Carrollton personnel on duty and some volunteers. Keister said they did not need to call anyone in on overtime and the Miamisburg Fire Department offered back up so that there was no disruption of emergency services to West Carrollton residents.
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