(CREDIT: Anastasia Payne)
An air quality statement has ended after firefighters battled a blaze in Burnside.
Thick black smoke could be seen billowing out from the scrapyard at Dartmouth Metals on Dawn Drive in the Burnside Industrial Park on Friday afternoon.
An emergency alert was issued earlier in the day advising nearby residents and businesses to keep their windows and doors shut and to turn off all air exchangers.
Bruce MacKinnon works near Dartmouth Metals and saw the fire erupt, which he caught on camera.
“What I saw was the grappling hooks moving stuff around, but when he moved it around, it was actually on fire,” MacKinnon tells our newsroom. “You can see my video of him pulling out a ball of fire. So then they moved it around and it caught more stuff on fire.”
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He’s concerned about the materials in the scrapyard, saying many of the old cars are filled with foam, which can ignite like gasoline.
“We stood out there for 20 minutes watching it, and then it just got worse,” MacKinnon. “Then all of a sudden somebody in there must have said ‘call the fire department, get the people that know what the hell is going on’.”
Meantime, the municipality says the fire has produced a runoff with potentially-contaminated materials, which may enter local water areas, including stormwater systems.
Officials are advising that recreational activity in the area should be avoided until further notice as crews work to contain the runoff. They expect monitoring for any contaminated runoff to continue over the weekend.
Halifax Regional Police say there were no injuries reported. The fire was considered under control at around 5 p.m. Officials also reporting the air quality had improved.
Reporter Anastasia Payne is at the scene of the fire at a scrapyard in Burnside. She says right now it looks like it’s smoldering. Crews continue to work to put it out. Roads in the area remain blocked off. pic.twitter.com/2X2NS7rha2
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