PALMETTO, Fla. — Over the weekend, a fire at a scrap metal facility took first responders more than a day to fully extinguish. The smoke could be seen rising from the flames for miles.
While the cause of the fire is still under investigation, the facility manager has a good guess as to what may have sparked the fire.
Joe Bernhardt is the business unit manager at Aceros America Port Manatee LLC. The facility shreds items like refrigerators, cars, and washing machines, and sends them off to be recycled.
“We were moving material toward the shredder," Bernhardt explains. "What we think that actually caught on fire was a kids scooter or a hoverboard that had a lithium-ion battery in it. That when our grapple grabbed it to move it, it exploded. If people knew how dangerous these things are they wouldn’t allow them in their garage. But it exploded and spread to other areas of appliances and shredder scrap.”
Bernhardt said it took only minutes for the lithium-ion battery explosion to spark a massive fire. The plumes of thick, black smoke stemmed from the burning of non-metal materials the shred yard sends to the landfill.
“I thought it was going to be a total loss," Bernhardt said.
North River Fire District firefighters called in help from across Manatee, Sarasota, and Hillsborough counties. Another big help in responding to the fire: the shred yard employees.
"Our guys, with fire all around them and having the hoses keep them safe, were in there for probably about a good 10 hours, doing nothing but following the instructions of the fire department," Bernhardt said. "[They were] moving the scrap around so that it could be more easily doused."
First responders were called to respond to the fire at roughly 10 a.m. Saturday morning. It was not fully extinguished until 12:30 Sunday afternoon.
If you're wondering what the fate of the burnt scraps is, it'll still be shredded and sent off for recycling. Bernhardy said they'll double process it to clean it off.