Lightning is blamed for a fire that destroyed a recycling facility in Grand Rapids Monday.
A PADNOS Company manager said that one employee had arrived to work early, saw the smoke and immediately called 9-1-1.
"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. 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," said Grand Rapids Fire Marshal Bill Smith told WZZM.
The roof collapsed shortly after.
Metals and oils were stored in certain areas which makes the fire difficult to extinguish with water alone. 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. 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."
