Update: Firefighters continue to monitor blaze at south Modesto recycling plant
Firefighters planned to remain at the scene throughout the day Wednesday as they worked to completely extinguish a Monday night fire at American Recycling Holdings in south Modesto.
Gusting winds Tuesday afternoon resulted in lots of smoke but not another fire.
Firefighters had the blaze at the Morgan Road business contained and had stopped its spread within four hours of its being reported at about 9 p.m. Monday
Modesto Deputy Chief Darin Jesberg said the strong wind sent columns of smoke into the sky Tuesday as firefighters worked on putting out the smoldering piles of recycled cardboard and plastic. (That was not an issue with the piles of recycled aluminum and magnesium.)
Jesberg said crews used front-end loaders to break the 15- to 30-feet-tall piles of recycled cardboard and plastic into smaller piles about 3 or 5 feet tall. That enabled firefighters to fully extinguish the piles and prevent them from igniting.
Three ladder trucks sprayed jets of water on the smaller piles.
Jesberg said exposing the piles’ hot areas to the gusting winds caused the smoke columns. He said the columns were brownish for the cardboard and black for the plastic. The smoke did not mean the fire was restarting or in any danger of doing so, he said.
This story was originally published February 15, 2022 at 4:42 PM.
