As many as 100 firefighters called in after debris fire at Etobicoke waste transfer station

Fire crews say the blaze at a waste management facility is contained and no injuries have been reported. Beth Macdonell has the details.

Crews are working to contain a fire at an Etobicoke waste transfer station that drew upwards of 100 firefighters and 20 fire trucks to the scene late Wednesday night.

The fire broke out at around 10:30 p.m. at the 50,000-square foot facility on Disco Road, near Carlingview Drive.

“Basically trucks come in, they dump piles of debris, and so the fire is in the piles of debris,” Acting Deputy Fire Chief Steve Darling told reporters at the scene on Thursday morning, adding that the flames are “deep-seated.”

“We’ve got a lot of smoke, that’s our main concern right now. (When) we can get the smoke cleared, we will get the heavy equipment in afterwards to try to pull those piles apart so we can get at the fire.”

At the height of the blaze, Darling noted, as many as 100 firefighters were on scene along with 19 or 20 trucks.

Currently about 40 firefighters remain on scene.

He said no injuries were reported as a result of the fire.

“There was nobody in the facility. It was closed down,” Darling added.

The debris consists of mixed materials, including plastics and construction materials.

“One of the concerns that we have is Mimico Creek, any runoff, to try to mitigate that,” Darling said.

The City of Toronto is on scene and working to mitigate the impact, he added.

“Right now it is under control. There is no risk of that being impacted at all,” Darling said.

The Ministry of the Environment has also been notified.

Due to air quality issues, some facilities to the south of the fire have been closed while crews get the smoke under control.