AL Firefighters Battling Large Salvage Yard Blaze

A massive fire continues to burn at a Dallas County salvage company after sending a plume of a plume of smoke so high in the air that it was picked up by weather radar imagery Sunday.

Volunteer fire department crews, including crews from the Burnsville VFD, were on the scene Monday. Crews are allowing the fire to burn itself out.

National Salvage and Services Corp. operates the Selma Grinding and Sorting Operation at 12170 River Road in Burnsville, an unincorporated community about 10 miles west of Selma. No one was injured in the blaze, said Tim Rushenberg, spokesman for the company that is headquartered in Bloomington, Ind.

The Selma location recycles railroad cross ties, grinding them to be used as industrial fuel. Cross ties are generally made of oak and are soaked in creosote, a tar-based wood preservative. The composition makes cross ties highly flammable.

The State Fire Marshal's Office is investigating the cause of the fire, he said.

"We are still very much in the early fact gathering phase," Rushenberg said. "But right now from witness reports it looks like it could have been a lightning strike that caused the fire, but we won't know until the fire marshal's investigation is complete."

The company is also working with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, he said. The Selma location employs about 25 people. The operation was closed and there were no employees on site when the fire began, he said.

National Salvage and Services Corp. was founded in 1980 as a railroad demolition company. It employs 125 people and has four locations in the country.

Several volunteer fire departments along with the Selma Fire Department responded to the conflagration that was reported late Sunday afternoon. They fought the fire for several hours.

Smoke was still visible Monday morning, said Ken Hall, who lives in Burnsville.

"My wife came inside the house Sunday evening about 5 and said 'You better come and see this", he said. "We live about three miles away up towards Jones. I knew what it was when I saw it with that thick black smoke. I knew there was going to be no way to put it out either."

The fire could smolder for several days, which could cause problems for people with asthma or similar medical conditions, said John Guarisco, an environmental toxicologist with the Alabama Department of Public Health.

"There are a lot of materials considered hazardous in smoke from several different compounds to particulate matter," he said. "We urge anyone who may be affected to stay in doors."

©2021 www.montgomeryadvertiser.com. Visit montgomeryadvertiser.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.