An acre of cars stacked 100 feet tall burns at Utah recycling center

SALT LAKE CITY (KSL.com) — A large fire at an industrial recycling facility in Salt Lake is going to be “a very long, drawn-out firefighting process,” according to Salt Lake Fire Capt. Brandt Hancuff.

Crews received a call at about 5 a.m. for a fire at Metro Group Inc.’s Salt Lake recycling center at 3050 W. 900 South. “A large amount” of cars waiting to be recycled, stacked on top of each other had ignited, Hancuff said. “We’re looking about 1 acre wide by about 100 feet tall of recycled cars that ignited.”

“It’s a huge acreage as far as their property goes,” he said.

Residual gas fumes in the cars’ tanks have caused explosions and wind that made fighting the blaze difficult. Crews were working to protect a structure to the west of the fire, and there are a large number of “propane tanks, liquid nitrogen tanks and diesel tanks near the pile that’s burning,” Hancuff said.

“We’re using a high-angled nozzle, as far as water stream goes, so that we can put adequate amounts of water on it, but it is putting off a lot of smoke into the valley,” Hancuff said. “This is going to be a very long, drawn-out firefighting process just to get it fully extinguished.”

As long as the weather cooperates, the captain said crews will begin using the facility equipment to move cars and put out hot spots, but he initially estimated it would take “probably a day or two on this to get it fully extinguished if not three.”

Later Friday, Hancuff said the fire would be extinguished much faster than expected, likely by the end of the day, as wind conditions improved and crews were supported by equipment from the property owner.

While the smoke in the valley is a “big hindrance,” Hancuff said, “The good news is that there’s really no threat to life with this.”

Investigators have not yet begun to look into what caused the blaze.

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