Big Fire Totals Recycling Facility

Written by Peter McIntyre  107.5 KISSFM Saturday, 02 March 2013 00:09

(P McIntyre photos)

(P McIntyre photos)

A major fire has destroyed the recycling facility at the regional landfill south of Vernon. The blaze was called in at 9:25 Friday night, described by a Coldstream resident as a large glow in the sky. Dozens of firefighters from Vernon, Coldstream and the BX helped to fight it. It was contained to the recycling depot on Birnie Road, which is run by Blue Water Projects. The flames could be seen around a wide area of Coldstream and Vernon. Deputy fire chief Jack Blair says at this point they don't know what caused it. "The gates were locked upon the arrival of the first crews. Nobody saw anybody. From the initial reports it sounded like it was fully involved well before we got on scene, so had something happened I'm not aware of it, but we'll be working with RCMP to check on a couple of things," Blair said to Kiss FM at the scene. Blair says the main office building was fully involved when they first arrived and flames were spreading to the north. "There's a lot of propane, forklifts with propane fuel, lots of combustible fluids in the storage area." He expected crews would be on scene until the morning. There were no injuries.
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Blaze destroys recycling facility at Greater Vernon landfill
By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: March 01, 2013 11:00 PM

Photos by Debbie Gibson.(Courtesy Coldstreamer)

A mass of flames lit up the night sky overlooking Kalamalka Lake Friday.  Fire destroyed the Bluewater Project recycling facility at the Greater Vernon landfill, with the first calls coming in to firefighters at about 9:30 p.m. The fire could be seen as far away as Aberdeen Road in Coldstream. "It feels sickening," said Kim Dianocky, who manages Bluewater, which has the contract to sort all recyclable material in the North Okanagan. Significant amounts of recycling fuelled the fire and there were concerns about propane tanks on site. A lack of fire hydrants meant that water had to be hauled in by crews from the Vernon, Coldstream and BX-Swan Lake fire departments. Access to the site became challenging as the road to the landfill is narrow. Those watching the action could only speculate to the full extent of the emergency. "The concern is if it spreads to the scale house. It's hard to tell," said Dale Danallanko, operations manager with the Regional District of North Okanagan. "There's a stock of piled material just to the north of where the fire is burning." At this point, RDNO has not determined how recycling will be processed now that the facility is destroyed. "We have some options. It may mean shipping to Kelowna," said Danallanko.  The cause of the fire is not known at this time.