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SCES: Cause of Genalta Steel fire will remain undetermined

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Fire investigators have wrapped up at the scene of the massive fire at the Genalta Steel Recycling Facility last week in Sherwood Park.

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The blaze erupted late Tuesday night, July 14, at the facility on 34 Street and 93 Avenue and had Strathcona County Emergency Services dealing with the inferno for around 30 hours.

Glen Hunter, captain of fire prevention and investigation with Strathcona County Emergency Services, said the property was released back to the company Friday after all investigations were completed.

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“We pinpointed the area of origin and it was in a garbage or scrap pile. What they do is receive the metal for recycling and it goes through a shredder,” Hunter said. “As far as the fire, we had to move a lot of the material around to get things extinguished and we’re reporting the fire cause as undetermined but non-suspicious.”

The late Tuesday night, July 14, fire at Sherwood Park’s Genalta Steel Recycling Facility kept Strathcona County Emergency Services busy for nearly 30 hours. A fire investigator said an old battery could have been the cause of the fire, but an official cause was not determined and the fire was deemed non-suspicious. Photo via Twitter/@robertparks247
The late Tuesday night, July 14, fire at Sherwood Park’s Genalta Steel Recycling Facility kept Strathcona County Emergency Services busy for nearly 30 hours. A fire investigator said an old battery could have been the cause of the fire, but an official cause was not determined and the fire was deemed non-suspicious. Photo via Twitter/@robertparks247

There were multiple explosions heard during the blaze and Devin Capcara, deputy chief of operations, said earlier in the week there were a number of old propane tanks, gas tanks and other material that caused the bangs.

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During the fire large flames and a steady stream of smoke could be seen billowing into the sky.

Alberta Environment and Edmonton’s hazmat team was called in to monitor the air quality in the area during the incident. The county also issued an air quality precaution alert on Wednesday, July 15, at 1 p.m.

One firefighter sent to hospital

Hunter said there was one firefighter who suffered a minor injury while battling the blaze and he was treated and released from hospital the same day. No employees of the facility were injured.

“The processing stopped at 3:30 a.m. and there were no personnel on-site or in the area after 4:30 a.m.,” Hunter said. “We know the area of origin, not the specific point, but it is non-suspicious. But we can’t rule out the possibility of a stray battery in the mix that could have ignited it, something like an old cell phone battery could have been responsible. The one thing we could not rule out was there being ignition from some type of battery but there was no other ignition source in the area.”

Hunter explained as crews had to move around a lot of material to get the blaze out they would not be able to determine an exact cause.

“The area where the fire started was basically their trash pile that would end up in the landfill so they haven’t put a value on it but it was a very low-value area that ignited on fire,” outlined Hunter.

There was no risk to any buildings or other infrastructure during the fire and there was no serious damage to anything important.

tdosser@postmedia.com

twitter.com/travisdosser

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