Photo of the fire within the metal recycling centre at the Mission Flats Landfill/via Dana Kammerer-Mcdermid
Kamloops Fire Rescue says the blaze which broke out this morning at the Mission Flats landfill is now fully contained.
KFR Deputy Chief Ryan Cail says its not clear what sparked the fire, saying investigators will be going in to determine the source of ignition.
He says the fire itself was in the metal recycling pile, and burned very hot.
“You could imagine in a metal recycle like that, whether its electronics and metal and all the different products of combustion, it definitely threw a black column with heavy carcinogenic smoke into the air,” noted Cail in conversation with Radio NL. “That put us in a position where we had to make all kinds of authorities aware, and our partnering agencies, whether it was Interior Health, Ministry of Environment, the School District, of course.”
Fire at the Mission Flats landfill via/Keith Trainor submission on Facebook
The smoke from the fire prompted the City of Kamloops to recommend people in the area shelter in-place, while area schools were also told to keep kids indoors as well.
The acrid smoke covered a good portion of the southern half of Kamloops before crews were able to start knocking the fire down a couple of hours after it first broke out at around 6:30 Wednesday morning.
The City of Kamloops has shut down the Mission Flats landfill for the day.
It’s unclear at this point if it will be able to reopen on Thursday.
“Visit Kamloops.ca/Landfills for alternative locations,” said the City in an earlier social media post as the fire was still burning.
