JONESBURG, Mo. — Dozens of firefighters from multiple departments are battling a massive fire at a scarp metal yard in Jonesburg near Warrenton. That’s about an hour or so west of St. Louis. It’s all happening at the Scrap Mart Metals Recycling Facility just off I-70.
Authorities tell FOX 2 that the fire is contained. That is a big improvement over what the situation was like earlier when heavy smoke and flames were coming from the fire site.
We’re told the facility is basically a scrap metal business that recycles things like vehicles. Authorities tell us the area that’s on fire contains all non-rubber and non-metallic parts of vehicles which are being recycled. That would be things like foam and fabric.
Shelter in place advisory
No injuries are being reported but the Warren County Emergency Management Director, Jim Sharp, says the smoke poses a low level hazard. As a precaution, a shelter in place advisory has been issued for areas to the south and east of the fire scene.
Crews got the first call for the fire early this morning around 5:45am. And the response has grown from there. Sharp says some 32 pieces of equipment are on the scene from more than a dozen different departments. He tells us the area where the fire is taking place is somewhat unstable making the firefight more challenging.
It’s also a large area, so crews are having to cover a lot of ground as part of the firefight. Water tankers are filling up with water outside of the business then trucking it in to the fire zone.
Sharp says authorities have been working with the National Weather Service to get information about issues like the wind direction for the smoke coming from the fire.
No cause for the fire has been determined yet. Crews expect to be at the scene for much of today.
