Scrap Yard Blaze Darkens Northwest Ohio Skies

Toledo Fire & Rescue responded to a mutual aid request in Delta, Ohio, Monday afternoon when fire broke out at a scrap metal yard.

“No civilian or firefighter injuries reported,” the TFR Twitter site reports.

Toledo was among eight departments that responded to a scrape pile fire at the MetalX facility that send smoke billowing into the sky, rising as high as 50 feet, WTVG reports.

Strangely enough, the fire fell exactly on the six-month anniversary of another massive fire at the same facility. However, changes in the company’s operating procedures made this emergency easier to deal with, Delta Fire Chief Scott Smith told WTVG.

“[MetalX] separated all the piles [of metal], so once one pile caught on fire we were able to separate it, and clean up …. And then keep the fire from growing to the bigger piles,” Smith said.

The company, headquartered in Waterloo, Iowa, buys scrap from industrial generators, wholesale suppliers and the general public.