Firefighters have contained a large fire at a junkyard in Northwest Miami-Dade County.
The fire broke out before noon at International Export Parts located at 3390 NW 127 St. in Opa-locka.
From Chopper 6 overhead, Robin Russell reported that the fire appeared to burn vehicles and tires. The fire was fueled by rubber and petroleum products associated with the wrecking yard, NBC 6's Hank Tester reported.
For nearly an hour the smoke was thick black and some large bursts of flames, possibly small explosions, could be seen.
"At these salvage yards, you have all types of things here. You have tires, old vehicles, all kinds of stuff that could burn. We had propane tanks, things that were very dangerous, but luckily, the crews got in there, knocked it down before anybody got seriously hurt," said Lt. Pamela Hicks, of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.
At least seven Miami-Dade fire units were called to the scene to extinguish the fire. The cause is not known.
"What we had to do was . . . the fire crews had to get in and protect exposures because it had jumped over the wall and actually two businesses were involved," Hicks said.
A worker at the junkyard was injured, and fire officials said his injuries were not life-threatening.
The business owners did not want to comment, Tester reported.
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