Sept. 06--A stubborn fire that erupted at a south Orange County scrap-metal plant kept firefighters busy much of Thursday.
About three-dozen firefighters were called to the Trademark Metals Recycling location on East Landstreet Road around 11:30 a.m. Fire officials said it's too early to know what sparked the flames but witnesses reportedly heard an explosion before the fire broke out.
Flames and thick, black smoke could be seen for several miles across Orange County, billowing from a two-story-tall pile of scrap metal.
The massive pile is made up mostly of old car parts. Even though metal doesn't burn easily, Orange County Fire Rescue spokesman John Mulhall said smaller shreds of metal and the pieces of interior car parts could have become flammable.
Once it was safe to enter the area plant employees under the direction of firefighters brought in the heavy-duty equipment to move the smoldering, densely packed metal and break down the burning pile.
In the coordinated effort, plant employees moved portions of the hot metal to waiting firefighters, who doused the flames.
According to the company's website, Trademark Metals Recycling is Florida's largest scrap-metal recycler with 27 locations in Florida and South Georgia.
Twenty-five employees work at the East Landstreet Road location, a company spokesman said. Each of the employees scheduled to work Thursday morning was accounted for, and there were no injuries.
Company spokesman John Bianculli said he was grateful everyone was safe and said employees followed emergency protocols.
Once the flames are out, company officials will try to determine what happened and whether any procedures at the yard should be altered.
"We'll start the investigation process determine the root cause of the fire," he said. "If anything has to be adjusted we'll take the next step."
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