Tire Wire Fire At Steel Plant In Midlothian
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MIDLOTHIAN (CBSDFW.COM/AP) - Emergency workers responded to a large fire at a Midlothian steel plant on Thursday morning. The incident was first reported at around 5:15 a.m. at Gerdau Ameristeel, located in the 300 block of Ward Road.
GALLERY: View Images From Tire Wire Fire At Steel Plant In Midlothian
Residents in the area said that they felt an explosion. Chief Dale McCaskill with the Midlothian Fire Department stated that the minor explosion sent sparks into a pile of debris.
There were no injuries in this fire, and McCaskill said that nobody was ever in danger. "We haven't had any complaints at this point as far as air quality," the fire chief said. "We do have TCEQ on scene monitoring the air and they are giving us feedback on if there's any issues and if there might be any evacuations. We don't expect there to be."
The flames broke out in a non-production area of the plant, according to company spokeswoman Kim Selph. The parts that burned were tire wires, used to attach tires to car rims, and some shredded pieces of tires. These are used as fuel in the plant's steelmaking process.
The plant produces rebar, sheet piling, frames and bundling materials.
Chopper 11 was over the scene on Thursday morning and saw thick smoke and flames as the large pile of debris burned. Emergency crews doused the pile with water and used bulldozers to keep the blaze under control. But water supply was a problem. "They have hydrants that are scattered out amongst the property," McCaskill explained, "it's just this facility has been here a long time and they've added some fire hydrants. It's just this particular location doesn't have one close enough where we can lay water or hose from." Firefighters had to use trucks to shuttle water to the scene.
The flames were contained within about two hours, but smoke can still be seen in the air from miles away. The cause of the fire is now under investigation. McCaskill stated that this plant has had no problems in the past, and everything has been up to fire code.
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