An evening fire here on Aug. 10 sent giant plumes of black smoke into the sky, causing many people to report the incident, said Guelph-Eramosa Fire Chief John Osborne.
The smoke was coming from burning tires and oils at Nicklin Auto Parts and Recyclers, a salvage yard located on Eastview Road between Watson Road and Jones Baseline.
Guelph firefighters were the first to respond to the call. In total there were about 30 firefighters on scene, with the Guelph-Eramosa department assisting with water tankers.
“When our crews arrived they did find significant smoke and flame,” said Osborne, also deputy fire chief with the Guelph Fire Department.
“They did a … coordinated three-vehicle attack. They were able to put a water curtain up around the fuel tanks that are there as well as the old oil tanks to protect them prior to starting to fight the fire.”
Osborne said, “the fire had started to spread into the building” so firefighters forcibly entered the building, which was empty at the time. “They were able to … grab the fire in there and then after that they were just doing hot spots … and making sure no fire got into the roof.”
The fire was predominantly contained outside the building at the back of the property.
“What was burning at the time were … recycling cars and tires and any of the other combustibles,” Osborne said.
He noted that due to “the hot, humid weather we did call in some more support … to relieve some of first-in crews and in case we had another significant event that might have happened.”
A Guelph firefighter injured his shoulder during the forcible entry and he was taken to the hospital, Osborne said. He was released later that night.
Because the business does work with flammable substances, the fire department was concerned about what was in the soil and on the surface, Osborne said.
“Not only the oil that was possibly laying on the ground … but the runoff that we were creating fighting the fire and so we did contact (the) Ministry of Environment (and Climate Change) right away,” Osborne said.
“We also dug some small ditches to try and contain the water and we laid out oil absorbing booms to contain it from spreading into the swamp area [nearby].”
MOECC officials, who arrived at about 9:30pm, “were very happy with what we had done to protect the environment from the runoff,” Osborne said.
The damage estimate for the fire is around $250,000, Osborne said.
“The cause has been determined as accidental,” he said. “It focused around the improper disposal of heated metal.”
