Firefighters battling large recycling facility fire in Carp
Ottawa firefighters are working on a large fire in a recycling facility in west Ottawa Tuesday morning.
Ottawa Fire Services (OFS) received the call to an industrial area on West Hunt Drive off Carp Road at 6:58 a.m. and firefighters reached the site a few minutes later. It was a second-alarm fire by 7:15 a.m.
Firefighters saw flames on the roof of the large structure with vehicles inside and had to try to stop it from spreading to the surrounding area with its fuel and propane tanks, according to OFS spokesperson Carson Tharris.
Ottawa's Tomlinson said the fire is in one of its buildings and it's grateful all staff are safe.
"Over the coming days we will work with investigators to determine the cause of the fire," said senior vice-president Rob Pierce in an email.
It is a massive operation with 41 fire trucks being put into action and Tomlinson using heavy equipment to help. Hazmat teams are part of the large response to manage contaminated water.
OFS said it expects to be working there most of the day.
"We're using a lot of tanker vehicles to bring water to the scene. There [are] no fire hydrants right here, so they are shoveling water from a nearby hydrant," Tharris said.
"We do have police helping control traffic in the area. But if motorists could avoid the area, that would help us to get the water here efficiently."
In a tweet Tuesday evening, Tomlinson thanked crews and announced the facility will be open Wednesday.
The fire is about 25 to 30 kilometres southwest of downtown Ottawa.
