SALT LAKE CITY, June 27, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — Dozens of Salt Lake City area firefighters waged a pitched battle overnight after being called to a three-alarm blaze which heavily damaged a commercial recycling plant and adjacent pallet company.
Salt Lake City fire crews were first dispatched to 3040 W. 900 South at midnight Thursday, but even before they arrived, they knew they were in for a fight.
“First arriving units found heavy fire and smoke,” according to SLCFD PIO Brandt Hancuff. “They initially dispatched a second alarm right then and upgraded that to a third alarm.
“Right now there are about 70 firefighters on scene,” Hancuff told reporters.
Not only were crews battling the smoke and flames, the property was also being rocked by a series explosions, the exact cause of which had yet to be determined.
Photo by Gephardt Daily Photojournalist Monico Garza
“We do know that there’s a number of semi trailers that are on fire, and those tires have been exploding. So those make loud explosion noises, but we don’t know all the contents within this area of the recycling center.
“And we have two large propane tanks that are on the east side of the structure and we have a crew protecting that at the moment,” Hancuff said. “We know they look to be the 500 gallon tanks. We haven’t been able to get close enough to tell. So the explosions we think might have been maybe other things, or possibly other propane tanks within the recycling center.
“So right now we have one large structure; it looks like it’s the main structure of the property that is involved, and then the surrounding property is also involved, where we have the pallets and the semi trailers and all the other recyclables out there.”
Photo by Gephardt Daily Photojournalist Monico Garza
When asked how long firefighting efforts would continue, Hancuff said it would be hours before the blaze would be extinguished.
“From past experience of recycling centers or junkyard areas that we’ve had fires, we know that they are large properties with a lot of debris in it,” he said.
“So as of right now we’ve got a good knockdown on the fire. It’s not extending further through other properties or anything, but we’re gonna be here throughout the night into the morning.”
Gephardt Daily will update this story as more information becomes available.
