Summer fires hit several recycling facilities

Fires have been reported at least three different recycling facilities in the western United States in early and mid-July of 2016, as dry summer conditions may be helping to create optimal conditions for fires.

In Newark, California, near Oakland, a fire at a plastics recycling facility produced significant smoke that was visible in several adjacent cities, according to an online report prepared by the San Francisco Chronicle.

The Alameda County (California) Fire Department says it spent two-and-a-half hours suppressing the fire, which did not result in any injuries to firefighters.

The Chronicle says the building had formerly housed operations for Western Pacific Pulp & Paper, which when contacted by the newspaper said it had moved out of the building in 2015 and had subsequently subleased it to an entity known as AHG Recycling. That acronym stands for American Huanjia Group Inc., according to www.YellowPages.com and other online listings.

Farther inland in the Bay Area, a small fire was reported at the Valley Services facility in San Jose Monday, July 11.

According to a San Jose Mercury News report, firefighters “quickly knocked down a one-alarm fire” at the plant in the early morning hours of July 11.

The fire reportedly started in what the newspaper refers to as “a trash pile” in on a concrete-paved area outside of the plant.

Valley Services, according to its website, offers demolition services, scrap metal recycling and the recycling of construction and demolition (C&D) materials.

In Denver  Sunday, July 10, a fire broke out at the Denver Scrap Metal facility, according to an online report on the website of the KUSA TV station.

The TV station says the city’s fire department is investigating a fire that created a “plume of smoke that was visible for miles.”

The fire reportedly broke out within a stockpile and required considerable digging and searching before the source or “hot spot” was found. Two firefighters on the scene were taken to the hospital, according to KUSA, one after being hit when a fire hose burst and the other from heat stress caused by the 101-degree temperatures.