Fire at Metalico scrap yard under investigation

BUFFALO, NY — The Buffalo Fire Department is still investigating the cause of a Level 2 fire Saturday afternoon at the Metalico scrap yard on Fillmore Avenue.

No injuries were reported. Although the fire is not suspicious, it caused $2 million in damage and was difficult for firefighters to fight.

However, two suburban volunteer fire departments and a local company helped Buffalo Fire eventually bring the fire under control and extinguish it.

On Saturday afternoon, a huge cloud of thick, black smoke was visible for miles as fierce flames blazed in an uncontrollable fire at the Metalico scrap yard.

Buffalo Fire Chief William Renaldo says the tanks of the junked vehicles, lawn mowers and snow blowers contained residues of flammable liquids. “The pile was about 20 to 30 feet high. All these residues of lubricants, gasoline, oil and things like that. There’s some oxidation going on under the pile. It was a deep-seated fire. It had been burning under the fire.”

Tests did not detect any toxic fumes, but concerns about surrounding homes and residents meant they wanted to act quickly. Buffalo police used a drone to direct water jets from hoses at the fires in the pile.

But those pouring gallons of water weren’t enough. The state and Erie County called in the Scranton Volunteer Fire Department from Hamburg with its two drop-off trailers, each of which can hold up to 300 gallons of a biodegradable substance called F-500.

It is manufactured by Hazard Control Technologies for use on various types of difficult fires, including vehicle fires. The substance was mixed with the water sprayed by BFD tower vehicles.

Mark Rabent, a sales representative for Buffalo-based Dival Safety & Supplies, points out that this isn’t the firefighting foam with the perpetual concerns about PFA carcinogens, but that the HFC manufacturer says F-500 “has the ability to absorb 6 to 10 times more heat than regular water without producing superheated steam.” He adds that it forms “chemical cocoons” that actually encapsulate fuels and that there is a “dramatic reduction in toxins, better visibility, and a reduction in smoke and soot.”

Rabent says, “F-500 is a water additive that works very well on three-dimensional fires. Unlike traditional foam that you hear so much about, with foam you have to form a blanket over the product or fuel to extinguish it. F-500 attacks hydrocarbons.”

He adds: “It clings to the fire, extinguishes it and cools it at the same time.”

But because the supply was limited, there were a number of calls to a sort of second aid organization. That was Dival Safety and Supplies, which has F-500s in stock. Dale Lesinski, vice president of Dival Safety and Supply, said that on Saturday, “our warehouse manager immediately called a driver, so all of our teammates got together to go. It literally came out of the back of the truck and was immediately deployed (to the firefighters).”

We’re also told that the Bowmansville Volunteer Fire Department in Lancaster has also been called to provide some of that F-500 fire suppressant for use in Buffalo. The Bowmansville and Scranton Volunteer Fire Departments in Hamburg are on call to handle hazmat incidents on the highway and vehicle fires.