SALT LAKE CITY — A fire at a recycling center in Salt Lake City that had been burning since early Friday, sending smoke across the valley, has been extinguished after officials originally believed it could burn for days.
Approximately 50 firefighters responded to the fire at the Metro Group Recycling Center at 3150 Harvey Milk Boulevard, just south of Salt Lake City International Airport, soon after 5:15 a.m.
According to fire officials, vehicles at the recycling center are among the items burning.
Watch fire burning at SLC recycling center
The Salt Lake City Fire Department said there were numerous propane tanks with underground propane lines at the facility, as well as diesel and liquid nitrogen tanks near the fire. The department worked to set up a strategic line to protect those tanks.
Seeing all the smoke, many were concerned about what exactly was being poured into the air.
“We don’t know really what they’re recycling so there could be toxic chemicals there, and on a day like today, it's being dispersed all over because it’s windy,” said Brad Case who was walking his dog nearby.
Tom Becnel, with our partner TELLUS, an air quality monitoring platform, joined FOX 13 News at the fire site to show us how this incident affected the air quality in the area.
“Most of these are in the yellow range right now because of the dust off the Great Salt Lake," he said while looking at the FOX 13 News AirView monitor. "But if you look at where our device is right here, it’s orange. Another scale higher in the AQI, and this is considered a dangerous level for us to be in right now.”
By mid-afternoon, there had been a significant drop in smoke, with the fire department saying their efforts had been helped by Metro Recycling being able to move the cars and other materials, allowing fire crews to get in closer.
Fire crews will be out at the scene through Friday evening, when they plan to hand off the area to Metro Recycling.
The cause of the fire is not yet known.
