Storm Debris Burns for Hours at St. Petersburg, FL, Recycling Center
Some homes in St. Petersburg were evacuated Thursday afternoon after storm debris caught fire at a recycling center.
A two-alarm fire at Aceros America that was discovered in a large storm debris pile at the back of the facility burned for nearly seven hours.
Appliances with flammable insulation, motors and batteries contributed to the fire, WFLA reported.
“Separate your stuff. Because if you get anything that’s flammable or anything that combust, an old gas can, if you think it’s something, think that’s empty, keep that in the hazardous pile. We don’t want to keep that into a big debris pile that’ll catch that on fire, and possibly hurt other people,” said St. Ptersburg Fire Rescue Capt. Garth Swingle.
Create four piles. One for construction debris, like drywall, carpets, fences and other flood impacted construction material. In the next pile, gather white goods like washing machines, dryers, AC units and water heaters.
