Wheat City Metals fire could last days: deputy fire chief

Regina Fire and Protective Services have continued to battle the fire at a scrapyard just north of the city since Thursday.

As of 1 p.m., Deputy Fire Chief Gord Hewitt said he had seen a “significant” reduction of smoke but there’s no idea as to how long the flame will last.

“It’s really hard to say. When you get a pile of scrap metal and debris like that, you get a fire that’s really deep-seated and it’s hard to get to the seat of that fire,” he said.

Hewitt added that the debris pile has been reduced to about a third of what it was yesterday.

“We’ve got crews out there right now working on it, spraying water on it but we’ve also got members from Evraz trying to pull some of the debris pile away,” Hewitt said. “As we continue to get more access into that pile to pull it away, we’ll have a better chance to fully extinguish the fire.”

Hewitt said two pumps and eight firefighters had worked overnight to mitigate the fire. There had been no injuries related to the fire as of Friday afternoon.

As of Friday, the cause of the fire is still unknown.

Deputy Fire Chief Gord Hewitt addresses members of the media about the Wheat City Metals fire. Dec. 29, 2023. (Daniel Reech/980 CJME)

On Thursday, Regina’s fire department received a call from an employee about a fire within one of the scrap metal piles. Hewitt said crews arrived on-scene within seven minutes, initially with a pump and a water tanker but more trucks were brought out later.

A pending investigation into the fire will be carried out by the RM of Sherwood — where the scrapyard is located — and the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency.

Just a heads up for drivers, you will have to find a different route to work. The road is blocked off on Pasqua Street North while fire crews complete their work. I’ve seen at least 25 drivers make a U-turn this morning. @CJMENews pic.twitter.com/N7BlX0XKQU

— Gillian Massie (@massie_gillian) December 29, 2023

Throughout Thursday afternoon, smoke from the fire could be seen from downtown Regina and Hewitt said it would have been visible to everyone in the city.

“We have fires of all different sizes and magnitudes but as far as the amount of smoke coming off that fire, it was significant,” he said.

The smoke fluctuated between light and dark shades of grey on Thursday, but Hewitt said the cause of the dark smoke wouldn’t be understood until the investigation is complete.

“Anytime there’s smoke, obviously there is a risk. We were very fortunate in this case with the wind direction going north and not going towards the city,” Hewitt said.

Hewitt said they are monitoring air quality for the area.

When asked, Hewitt didn’t rule out the possibility of propane tanks being burned, which might have been the cause of some of the explosions that were heard during the fire.

“Obviously, when you get a scrap metal pile, you can have all different types of tanks or items that are in that pile and so that’s a possibility when you hear those explosions — and we did hear those — it could be any number of different items,” he said.