dt_toronto_geek
Superstar
No explosions and in the end, no evacuations but there was a hell of a lot of smoke that looked pretty threatening over the Beach area
Recycling Plant Fire Echoes Propane Facility Explosion
Sunday August 17, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff
It sounds eerily familiar: an early-morning blaze at an industrial facility sent plumes of black smoke into the air, and the flames could be seen for kilometers.
Luckily, the recycling plant at 95 Commissioners St had little else in common with the Sunrise Propane explosion.
A two-alarm fire shut down the street for hours Sunday morning, but no one needed to be evacuated from the lakefront area.
It appears that the fire began at National Rubber Technologies. Officials say pieces of tires were burning behind the building, but the flames are now out.
It took 12 fire trucks to extinguish the trailers containing granular rubber.
Officials believe there's no sign of hazardous materials in the air or on the ground. No one was at the plant at the time.
There's no word on the cause.
The fire comes one week to the day after a propane facility exploded near Keele and Wilson. The clean-up of that site began Saturday.
Meanwhile, back in March, Premier Dalton McGuinty revealed that Ontario was the only province in the country without a tire recycling progam. Nearly 12 million tires are thrown out every year here.
CityNews spoke to National Rubber Technologies CEO Greg Bavington about the proposed recycling fee for new tires, built into the purchase cost.
"There's a higher cost to doing what we do than there is to burning a tire," explained Bavington at the time.
The company processes about a million and a half a year, a small drop in the bucket. National Rubber makes nearly 500 products and uses 98% recycled rubber.
6:15-6:45am this morning:
Recycling Plant Fire Echoes Propane Facility Explosion
Sunday August 17, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff
It sounds eerily familiar: an early-morning blaze at an industrial facility sent plumes of black smoke into the air, and the flames could be seen for kilometers.
Luckily, the recycling plant at 95 Commissioners St had little else in common with the Sunrise Propane explosion.
A two-alarm fire shut down the street for hours Sunday morning, but no one needed to be evacuated from the lakefront area.
It appears that the fire began at National Rubber Technologies. Officials say pieces of tires were burning behind the building, but the flames are now out.
It took 12 fire trucks to extinguish the trailers containing granular rubber.
Officials believe there's no sign of hazardous materials in the air or on the ground. No one was at the plant at the time.
There's no word on the cause.
The fire comes one week to the day after a propane facility exploded near Keele and Wilson. The clean-up of that site began Saturday.
Meanwhile, back in March, Premier Dalton McGuinty revealed that Ontario was the only province in the country without a tire recycling progam. Nearly 12 million tires are thrown out every year here.
CityNews spoke to National Rubber Technologies CEO Greg Bavington about the proposed recycling fee for new tires, built into the purchase cost.
"There's a higher cost to doing what we do than there is to burning a tire," explained Bavington at the time.
The company processes about a million and a half a year, a small drop in the bucket. National Rubber makes nearly 500 products and uses 98% recycled rubber.
6:15-6:45am this morning:
