Firefighters worked through piles of debris to douse the flames Wednesday morning during the latest fire to ignite in an industrial yard in the city's southeast.
Police and firefighters were called to Calgary Metal Recycling in the 3400 block of Ogden Road S.E. at about 6:00 a.m.
“When the first crew arrived they found flames and visible smoke and they called a full alarm assignment to the fire," said Calgary Fire Department Deputy Chief Ken Uzeloc. "When they got there no structures were involved, it was the recycling material outside the structure that was on fire.”
About a dozen firefighters responded to the scene and were met with thick, black smoke when they arrived. They set up hand lines on the ground and used an aerial truck to attack the blaze from above. Workers at the scene used heavy equipment to help firefighters move the recycling materials so they could extinguish the fire.
Officials say the piles of debris made it difficult to determine the source of the fire and it took crews a few hours to contain it.
Alberta Environment and the Hazardous Materials team were on scene to monitor air quality.
Two employees were at the facility when the fire started but EMS officials say no injuries were reported.
Wednesday's blaze is not the first fire to occur at the recycling facility. According to Uzeloc, there have been 15 fires on the site in the last seven years including four fires that were considered 'significant'.
A large fire burned for multiple days at the metal recycling plant in 2012 resulting in 17 charges against the owner.
“After the 2012 large fire, that lasted for 10 days, we did put some conditions on their business licence for Calgary Metals to meet to make sure that they met the fire code requirements for their storage and piles," said Uzeloc. "They were charged after the 2012 event under the fire code and plead guilty to that charge.”
“Since then, they’ve been meeting all of the requirements under the fire code and the conditions that we have put on their business licence.”
Firefighters were again called to a fire in the scrap yard in July 2014 when flames broke out and it happened again in 2017 when the gas tank of a car being sent through a compactor exploded.
The cause of Wednesday's fire remains under investigation. Uzeloc says the company is working with members of the fire enforcement compliance team as an inspection of the property and a review of video footage is conducted.
With files from CTV's Alesia Fieldberg
