Operations & Training

Philly Firefighter Injured Battling Recycling Center Blaze

Jan. 6, 2020

It took Philadelphia crews more than four hours to put out the two-alarm fire that broke out at the Waste Management trash recycling facility in the city's Holmesburg area.

By Andrew Maykuth

Source The Philadelphia Inquirer

A Philadelphia firefighter was injured battling a two-alarm blaze at a Waste Management trash recycling facility in the city's Holmesburg section Sunday night.

Philadelphia firefighters on Sunday night struggled to contain a two-alarm blaze at a Waste Management trash recycling facility on the 5200 block of Bleigh Avenue in the Holmesburg section of Northeast Philadelphia.

The fire at the Waste Management Material Recovery Facility was reported at 6:46 p.m. When first responders arrived, they found the fire inside. A second alarm was issued at 7:55 pm.

No injuries were reported. The cause is unknown.

A Waste Management spokesperson, John Hambrose, described the fire as “minor” and said it caused no damage. "We plan to be up and running in the morning,” Hambrose said in an e-mail Sunday night.

The large sheet-metal-clad building opened in 2011 to sort recyclable plastic, metal and paper into marketable commodities.

Crews remained on scene fighting the blaze.

Inquirer staff writer Frank Kummer contributed to this article.

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