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Cause of Recycling Fire Unknown

EFD
Evansville firefighters battled heat and humidity as well as smoke and flames at Tri-State Resource Recovery on Friday

Friday's interior fire at Tri-State Resource Recovery started in a pile of cardboard

An Evansville Fire Department spokesman says the cause of a stubborn fire at a local recycling plant will likely remain unknown. WNIN’s John Gibson reports:

Division Chief Mike Larson says employees at Tri-State Resource Recovery at Morgan Ave and Harriet St. saw smoke coming from a large pile of cardboard on Friday.

Larson said employees began removing layers of the cardboard with equipment and the smoldering pile burst into flames.

The chief says the recycling business’ sprinkler system kicked in and kept the fire in check before firefighters arrived and began extinguishing the pile of cardboard.

Larson says it took “considerable time and effort” to ventilate smoke from the structure, with firefighters on scene for about three hours.

Due to hot and muggy weather, EFD chiefs implemented a rotation plan to limit firefighters’ time inside the building.

There were no injuries and no structural damage.

Larson says the fire will likely be classified as undetermined due to the amount of materials that were moved to extinguish it.