Ottawa Fire and Hazardous Material Crews responded to a two-alarm blaze at an industrial site in the city’s east end Saturday.
Fire officials say they received a call for a fire located at 2075 Stevenage Dr. around 12:30. That is the address for Drain-All Ltd., an environmental waste handling company where chemicals and other hazardous materials are often disposed.
Viewer video shows thick black smoke coming from the site.
“Huge black smoke and it was moving real fast and took up a large area,” said Allison Calvert, who lives a few blocks from the scene.
District Chief Marc Asselin said the fire started outside of Drain-All’s main building. Investigations are ongoing but Asselin said it was likely a vehicle fire that spread to nearby storage containers.
“Of course knowing what they have and they can store on this we want to make sure we deal with it immediately, of course containment and environmental issues are one of our top priorities also,” said Asselin.
Calvert said she worried about toxic materials being released into the air.
“One of concerns in the fact that you know, we are, or we were able to smell the smoke so what are we breathing in,” she said.
Fire crews did not believe hazardous materials had spread into the air.
The blaze was under control around 1:30. Crews remained on scene to deal with hot spots on a 31C day.
“It’s very difficult for our firefighters also. We do have our rehab unit here where we cool ourselves down also, and take care of that. But for the most part, thinks are OK and I’m happy to report we’re wrapping up,” said Asselin.
No injured were reported.
