The damage from Tuesday’s Eagle Recycling fire spreads far
beyond the actual blaze. The fire cost neighbors and business
thousands of dollars in damages and it blocked off the street for
at least a day. All of it may have been prevented if the business
and city’s efforts to reduce the material at the plant came to
fruition sooner.
The damage from Tuesday’s Eagle Recycling fire spreads far beyond the actual blaze.
The fire cost neighbors and business thousands of dollars in damages and it blocked off the street for at least a day. All of it may have been prevented if the business and city’s efforts to reduce the material at the plant came to fruition sooner.
Over the last few months, Eagle Recycling owner Ernie Chambers was working with the fire marshal to reduce the amount of contents on his property due to the marshal’s worry of a blaze.
Chambers was reducing his stockpile before the fire with an unknown cause burned through his business Tuesday. As of Wednesday afternoon, the losses still were undetermined for Chambers’ business and his neighbors’ properties.
Firefighters had to battle 24 spot fires that erupted downwind from the main blaze. Both residential and commercial buildings were damaged in the fires, Battalion Chief Paul Avila said. Damage to a commercial warehouse on the property had been estimated at $300,000.
“Our biggest problem was the spotting down range – downward of the fire,” Avila said.
Damage spread to both neighboring businesses, Hollister Landscape Supply, Inc. and Morris Steel Co., Inc.
At the landscaping company, its rock products were dyed orange because of fire repellant that was dropped, but only a small number of trees and plants were charred because of the heat. The business reported no structural damage.
“Everything is all pink,” said Janet Snodderly, manager of Hollister Landscape Supply, Inc. “It’s been tough because the road is closed – I’ve lost a few sales.”
The winds and a concrete barrier between the property and Eagle Recycling prevented the fire from spreading through the business.
Morris Steel wasn’t so lucky. Fire burned through a back lot, skipping over buildings that housed the business and residences. Owner George Morris reported damage to two forklifts, among other supplies and vehicles.
The steel company was downwind from the fire, causing all the smoke to pour into its business. The flames towered over the property.
“I just looked outside and it was black,” Morris said.
A heavy black smoke and floating ash engulfed the business during the fire’s peak, Morris said. The strong winds continued to blow the smoke onto his property the following day.
Both neighbors said they had worries that a fire could start but thought Chambers was doing enough to reduce the risk. Neither neighbor had an issue with the abundance of cardboard and plastic that was above the property’s barriers.
“It’s always been a fear of mine that it could catch on fire, but in the two and a half years I’ve been here, it’s been fine,” Snodderly said.
Every time a piece of cardboard would fly over the fences, Chambers would quickly lean the debris, she said.
Morris agreed that there was never an issue with the debris before.
But over the last few months, the stockpile of recyclables was growing and growing because his paper mill stopped accepting his products in May, Chambers said. The halt in the ability to ship out products started to influence the things he could take in.
“We eventually had to start turning back product and tell them to go to our competitors,” Chambers said.
During the time of the backlog, he worked closely with the Hollister Fire Department out of fears that a fire could start because of the excess amount of cardboard. In June, his paper mill once again started accepting his product and his backlog was slowly diminishing.
All that was before the fire erupted Tuesday evening.
As of Wednesday, Chambers was starting to ship some of the products that were untouched by the fire to other processing plants in San Jose and Hollister. More than a dozen truckloads of cardboard and other recyclables have been shipped out of the area.
“We are still in business and we will continue to be,” he said.
