Fire breaks out at Haniak Road environmental depot

Published around 10:36 am Sept 16

Dan Gerow was sitting on his deck on Tuesday evening when he heard a loud noises.

He raced down the stairs of his Haniak Road apartment complex and looked across the street, where plumes of thick, black smoke were billowing to the sky, flames shooting above the treeline, which he estimated at about 40 feet.

After calling 911, he stood and watched the fire unfold in the back yard of GFL Environmental, a liquid and special waste facility located in Rosslyn.

“We kept watching and it just kept coming and coming, lots and lots of smoke,” Gerow said.

“I called 911 and they said they’d had some calls already for Haniak Road. It was really thick, black smoke for quite a while.”

Volunteer crews from Oliver Paipoonge Fire and Emergency Services were joined by Thunder Bay Fire Rescue firefighters, employing an aerial ladder to douse the fire, which appeared to have engulfed large plastic holding containers located at the rear of the property.

“There was a big explosion at the beginning and then as it went there were another couple smaller explosions and then a little while later there was another explosion,” said Gerow, unsure what it was that might have caused the loud bangs.

Oliver Paipoonge Fire Chief Sean Horan said it was likely the sound of plastic containers bursting.

Thankfully, Gerow added, the wind was keeping the smoke from their residence.

Gerow said they were wondering what was burning, but wasn’t all that concerned.

“It wasn’t hard to breathe,” he said.

A GFL worker was stationed at the entrance of the company’s property, warding off onlookers out to see the source of the smoke, which could be seen as far away as the Thunder Bay Expressway on the city’s north side.

As of about 9 p.m. OPFES said the fire is knocked down, but not out. There is no threat to community safety at this time.

The fire is still under investigation and it’s too soon to say the cause of the fire.

The public is asked to avoid the area.  – tbnewsatch.com

article website here

 …where plumes of thick, black smoke were billowing to the sky, flames shooting above the treeline, which he estimated at about 40 feet….

GFL fire threw up plenty of smoke but left minimal damage: company

published around 1:55 pm Sept 17

An investigation is underway into Tuesday evening’s fire in Rosslyn that generated explosions and plenty of smoke, but caused no reported injuries and left no damage to any structures.

The fire was reported around 6:30 at GFL Environmental, a liquid and special waste handling facility on Haniak Road.

Oliver Paipoonge and Thunder Bay firefighters joined forces to bring the fire under control within a few hours.

Sean Horan, chief of Oliver Paipoonge Fire & Emergency Services, said a number of large plastic storage containers were destroyed in the blaze, but no buildings were impacted.

He said the explosion that area residents heard were likely caused by the containers bursting open.

A couple of vehicles also sustained some heat damage.

A spokesperson for GFL told Newswatch on Wednesday there has been no impact on operations, and that “it’s business as usual” at the facility.

He said he didn’t know yet how the fire might have started.

Horan said he expects it will take several days to complete the investigation, as “there’s going to be a lot of information to evaluate for this situation.” – tbnewswatch.com

article website here

Nothing mentioned in the second article about the ‘ plumes of thick, black smoke were billowing to the sky, flames shooting above the treeline, which he estimated at about 40 feet’.

Explosions and thick black smoke with 40 feet high flames at a ‘a liquid and special waste facility located in Rosslyn.’….hmmm.

It also took a long time to get the fire ‘knocked down’ .

I wonder what the hell was burning?  Were there any Lithium-Ion batteries stored there?  Thick black smoke, explosions, huge flames and hard to put out are things that might make someone believe that to be the case.

Anyway, I am sure that that thick black smoke, the source has not yet been identified, was not your normal campfire smoke. Had the smoke been blown in the direction of residences, evacuation was a distinct possibility.

Battery fire smoke is highly toxic.

What I fear is that battery fires are being downplayed in the media. I believe that many house fires may be caused by Lithium-Ion batteries suddenly experiencing a  thermal runaway event typically caused by mechanical damage, electrical short circuits, or overheating.

I never ever leave any device charging in my home without me being there. Not overnight.  I want to be aware if the charging object begins to smoke.  What do you do then?  Get it into water.  A bucket, a sink, a bathtub and call the fire department. Then get out of the house.

The idea is to cool the overheating batteries down. If it winter, you can throw the thing out into the snow.

previous related posts here