GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Firefighters battled a blaze for over 11 hours on Grand Rapid's west side at PADNOS' Front Street Recycling location. Investigators have now confirmed the fire was caused by a lightning strike.
A PADNOS Company manager said that one employee had arrived to work early, saw the smoke and immediately called 911.
It started around 3 a.m. at the facility located at 601 Letellier Avenue. It took crews over 2 hours to extinguish the flames.
The 13 ON YOUR SIDE crew at the scene saw flames coming from the building, along with a massive plume of black smoke. Grand Rapids Fire Marshal Bill Smith said fire crews were up on aerials, shooting water into the blaze.
"The fire was advanced enough that it drove our fire suppression crews out, and we went defensive at that time, we did try to make another interior attack," Smith said. "It was recognized by one of our battalion chiefs that it just was not worth the worth that risk, as he noted that the roof was starting to compromise,
The roof collapsed shortly after. In its repair shop and docking bay, the building holds metals and oils, which makes the fire difficult to extinguish with water alone. Fire crews say that's why it took so long to extinguish.
"We had no reports of anyone inside, and so we're not going to really risk a whole lot for little. And we did make the stop," Smith said. "There was a firewall that was able to contain the fire to one side of that area, so it was compartmentalized and was able to keep the rest of that fire off of the oils that were stored in that area."
Even after the flames were gone, crews continued to spray the structure with water until they were sure no more flare-ups would occur.
"I wouldn't be surprised we're here until at least maybe one unit here into the evening," Smith said.
No firefighters were injured while battling the flames.
PADNOS fire in Grand Rapids
This is now the fifth fire in eight years for PADNOS, with the most recent hitting the company's Burton Recycling Center in June of this year.
13 ON YOUR SIDE reached out to PADNOS for comment on Monday's fire but has not heard back.
Smith recognized that fires at these locations have happened frequently, but said that it's nothing out of the ordinary.
"There's going to be small fires and and they typically are able to handle that the incipient phase, and they immediately call 911, to get our assistance," Smith said. "There's different types of materials that, just by nature of their scrapping operations, could cause a fire."
For Monday's fire, Smith said it's no different.
"I've responded myself 30 years to this location, but this is, you know, this is a scrap metal operation," Smith said. "It could have combustible metals in there, such as sodium, magnesium. There could be different alloys in there, but we did have some metals that were involved. We also have oil that's in there, petroleum distillate, which is about 2000 gallons."
Smith said what's next for the building will be decided by PADNOS. The building, however, is not suitable for use.
"We don't want anybody in that, in the footprint of that building, or even around it, because those walls can collapse," Smith said. "We will be securing that with fire scene tape."
A fire official told us an employee reported the fire, which broke out during the peak of the overnight storms.
Across the street, Exodus Place, a transitional housing center told 13 ON YOUR SIDE that many residents were woken up by what they said sounded like a lightning strike, describing how the loud crash shook the building. Minutes later, Joshua Young, a worker and resident at the Exodus Place, said he was told their across-the-street neighbors were up in flames.
"I've been pretty much out here all morning, seeing the whole building one and fully engulfed this morning," Young said. "Before that the power went out, because I think it was consumers had to shut the power off to get them to so fire crews don't get electrocuted."
A manager at PADNOS said that a neighbor told them he saw the lightning strike the building. Investigators found swecurity footage confirming the lightning strike.
Young said the morning for him was jarring, watching with many other residents as crews fought the blaze.
"Shocking," Young said. "The building's been here, said since probably before I got moved into Exodus."
Young said firefighters worked tirelessly to contain the blaze before things spread to neighboring buildings.
"Very blessed that they got the fire contained really quickly, but they still had some high spots flare up," Young said. "Whenever a flare-up would start, like three or four aerial trucks would hit that well, panels, crews for helping tear down to get more access."
"I think this response was good," Young added.
Drone video shows scope of damage
Courtesy: Matt Flietstra
