Nevada Recycling plant suffers second fire in 10 days

Thursday, April 1, 1999 | 11:11 a.m.

The second spectacular fire in 10 days at Nevada Recycling Inc. sent county firefighters racing to the remote North Las Vegas business near the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Wednesday afternoon.

On March 22 more than 100 firefighters and 24 fire-fighting units were called to the recycling plant on Range Road, where an accidentally set fire burned for 24 hours, at times sending large clouds of black smoke bellowing across Interstate 15.

Wednesday around 3:30 p.m. another fire erupted at the same location.

Clark County Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach said 22 units and between 60 and 70 firefighters from the county, Nellis Air Force Base and North Las Vegas fire departments responded to the fire.

Winds estimated at 54 miles per hour and distant fire hydrants made fighting the blaze difficult.

"Fire crews were working under difficult circumstances," Leinbach said. "It was remarkable what they did."

The closest hydrants to the fire were about a mile away.

Though the material at the recycling plant may have little value, the fire threatened a nearby lumberyard.

Embers from the fire got into the yard, creating a number of hot spots that could easily have ignited the lumber, but firefighters were able to put them out.

"It was a great save," Leinbach said.

It took about six hours -- until after 9:30 p.m. -- to put out the fire, and afterward the fire continued to smolder.

Firefighters stayed at the location overnight to make sure no more fires ignited.

Leinbach said a front-end loader was used to break up large mounds of debris so that firefighters could get to the burning material.

"There was an immense amount of debris, extremely strong wind and very little water at our disposal," Leinbach said. "They were very difficult, challenging circumstances."

The cause of the fire is not known, and there were no injuries.

Leinbach said Nevada Power Co. had to shut down a power substation as a precaution, because a number of outer buildings with electricity coming to them caught fire.

The recycling company is in the process of relocating.