A fire continues to burn after it broke out at Stuff Recycling around 4 p.m. Saturday.
Clark County Fire Department Chief Ernie Barnes said the fire is still in the extinguishing phase, so it is not clear what caused the fire.
Barnes said the fire started at the bottom of a massive pile of old scrap metal and had been burning for nearly 18 hours.
“There’s hundreds of old cars, scrap metal, appliances, lawns mowers, anything you can think of; it’s here,” Barnes said. “It’s a deep-seated fire because it was burning at the bottom, and we couldn’t get enough water. We had to call mutual aid.”
About 20 additional fire departments have come to help CCFD including Winchester, Lexington, Paris, Richmond, Bourbon County, Jessamine County and more.
“I’d like to thank all the fire departments that came to help,” Barnes said.
The EPA issued an air quality warning for those in the affected area (the Wayland Heights neighborhood and Clintonville Road in Clark County) to turn off window air conditioning units.
Barnes said he’d also like to thank Grace Baptist Church for agreeing to cancel their Sunday services because of safety concerns as well as community members who have brought food and supported the departments on site.
“We appreciate them,” he said.
Barnes said the fire departments would likely be on site for the remainder of the day as they continue to work to extinguish the fire.
“It’ll be awhile,” he said.