Calgary Firefighters Fight Fire at ECCO Recycling and Energy on Saturday, April 30, 2022. Photo by Gavin Young / Postmedia
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Calgary firefighters and other correspondents extinguished a fire that burned through Friday night through Saturday morning, causing air quality problems in parts of the city.
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Firefighters responded to multiple calls about a cloud of smoke near the southeastern Quarry Park community around 8:10 p.m. Friday. The cloud of smoke was visible from many angles and the crews were met by the landfill staff near 24 Street and Quarry Park Blvd SE Fire crews traveled to the top of the landfill where staff were actively working to put out the blaze, according to a press release on Friday night. A large bulldozer was used to extinguish the fire before it malfunctioned as it was fought by the fire. The operator of the machine was able to get out of the vehicle safely, but the fire continued to grow, forcing the fire brigade to intervene with a remote water supply and hose flows. Sorry, but this video failed to load. Calgary Firefighters and Landfill staff continued to work on the fire throughout the night to reduce the fire to a single pile of rubbish. The area is full of construction waste and dry rubble.
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Calgary Police, CP Rail and Alberta Environment staff were present at the scene. No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire is being investigated. Shortly after 3:30 a.m. Saturday, Battalion Commander Paul Frederick said most of the fire had been extinguished, but crews remained on site and working in hot spots. “They are still stubborn because we have to use heavy equipment to dig the dirt. “That is where the fire burns,” said Frederick. “But we have no problem right now with the smoke coming from the pile.” He said the crews used heavy equipment to access the fire, as well as to suffocate it with dirt, while dosing large volumes of water. Environment Canada had issued a special air quality statement in response to the fire, warning of high levels of air pollution, particularly in southeastern Calgary, which was lifted as soon as the fire was extinguished.
