Scrapyard fire north of Regina could still burn for days but remains under control: officials

A fire at a scrapyard north of Regina is continuing to burn, but officials with Regina Fire and Protective Services say there is no threat to the general public.

"We'll continue to work there throughout the day and probably into the evening and potentially into tomorrow to minimize that fire load and fully extinguished the fire," said deputy fire chief Gord Hewitt Friday afternoon. 

Hewitt said fire crews were called to Wheat City Metals, a scrapyard at 2881 Pasqua St. N., at 12:46 p.m. CST on Thursday.

An employee of Wheat City Metals placed the initial call to emergency services and crews were able to arrive on scene within seven minutes, Hewitt said.

Initial concerns about the situation were resolved once crews were able to secure a water source, Hewitt said.

A plume of oily black and grey smoke continued to shoot into the air on Thursday as crews used a crane to shoot water onto the blaze.

Throughout the afternoon heavy machinery was being used to shift pieces of scrap away from the flames.

By Friday morning the colour of the smoke had changed to white.

A team of eight firefighters remained on scene overnight and will continue to work throughout the day.

"You can see an obvious difference in the smoke plume coming from the fire right now. So they've done some great work. A lot of the work that's been done there has been reducing the fire load within that scrap metal pile," Hewitt said. 

Fire officials remain focused on putting the fire out, so have not yet been able to determine the cause of the blaze, he said. 

Hewitt said Regina Fire & Protective Services responded to the scrapyard — which is located outside the city in the Rural Municipality (RM) of Sherwood — as a result of a longstanding service agreement between the city and the RM. 

However, any investigation of the cause of the fire will be the responsibility of the rural municipality and the province, he said.

The fire department will be "interested" in learning more about the fire, its cause and what prompted the large smoke plume spotted by residents throughout the city on Thursday, he said.