SANDY, Utah, Nov. 11, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Some businesses were evacuated but no injuries were reported at the base of the giant black plume seen valley-wide Friday from a hazmat fire.
Damage was confined to the Superior Buck and Steel Supply plant at 8685 S. 700 West in the blaze that broke out just before 1 p.m. The fire started in the yard at the metal manufacturing company, where grinding and “hot work” was underway that ignited grass and weeds, Sandy City Fire Deputy Chief Ryan McConaghie told Gephardt Daily.
But flames spread to nearby storage for paraffin wax cubes, launching the black smoke.
“The paraffin was a little more difficult to put out,” the deputy chief said.
Crews from Sandy, West Jordan and Unified Fire had to resort to foam instead of water to contain and douse the chemical blaze, he said.
Superior was evacuated, as well as an adjacent business, for the nearly two hours it took to secure the scene. Bumpers of some cars parked nearby melted.
The fumes, like anything that burns, were harmful, but had dissipated and evaporated so as to present no danger to the community, McConaghie said.
