More than 60 firefighters tackle recycling blaze

Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2002 | 9:48 a.m.

Clark County firefighters contained a five-alarm fire at a recycling yard in the northeast Las Vegas Valley Tuesday night, but crews remained at the Silver Dollar Recycling Plant overnight.

Early today a handful of the more than 60 firefighters who were on scene at the height of the blaze were cleaning up potential hot spots from the fire, which was contained by 11 p.m.

The fire broke out about 9 p.m. in piles of material and junked cars awaiting recycling at the yard on Range Road near the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It quickly escalated, Clark County Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach said.

Units from the Clark County, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas fire departments responded.

At the height of the blaze 20 firefighting crews were on the scene and fought the flames with one mile of hose, Leinbach said. During the two-hour battle, about 96,000 gallons of water were pumped on the fire, the origin of which is to be determined, Leinbach said.

No one was injured and there were no explosions. The fire did not threaten any homes or businesses, Leinbach said.

A dollar figure likely will not be placed on the blaze, Leinbach said, noting that the materials that burned were the "lowest of the debris" and that the burning autos already had been stripped of mostly everything of value.

Recycling yard fires can burn for days, Leinbach said, because the fire smolders in piles of crushed car bodies, tires and plastics. In March 1999 the same recycling plant burst into flames twice within 10 days. Then the plant was known as Nevada Recycling Inc. and those fires burned for at least 24 hours.