For a second day, firefighters from multiple departments are trying to put out the fire in the Schnitzer Steel scrapyard near Ladysmith.
On Friday, crews had the upper hand.
“We’re still just mopping up and just trying to pull all the cars apart with machines and just get lots of water and foam in deep just keep suppressing what pops up,” said Capt. Kris Hill of the North Oyster Volunteer Fire Department.
The fire broke out Thursday at around 9 a.m.
Firefighters are now trucking water in but without lights and sirens. And those at ColdStar Solutions, a neighbouring property, are breathing a sigh of relief their building appears unscathed.
“We thought for a bit there was just no hope. When those tires went up, the blaze was so high and so hot the work that they did to keep our building safe was unbelievable. [We’re] very very very thankful,” said Arley Dalziel, a senior operations manager at Coldstar Solutions Inc.
But while the fire’s danger has decreased, the concerns about its environmental impacts have not.
B.C.’s Ministry of Environment said water run-off from the fire has entered some nearby private properties.
“Schnitzer Steel’s contractors, what they’re attempting to do is to locate where those off-site migration points are occurring and to utilize spill response equipment to put within that infrastructure to make sure that it doesn’t enter the receiving environment such as the bay,” said John Kervel, an environmental emergency response officer with B.C.’s Ministry of Environment.
Parents at North Oyster Elementary School were advised they could withhold their children from school as air quality is a concern and there may be groundwater contamination.
The Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district has taken a water sample from the school’s cistern and it’s expecting results this weekend.
Other neighbours said they’re not sure if their water is now safe for crops or for themselves and their animals to drink.
They question the Schnitzer Steel location within the agricultural land reserve.
“Our recent area director who just retired has spent many years, many years advocating to get this [Schnitzer Steel] off of our aquifer and moved out to Duke Point where all their recycling steel is barged away to China and wherever else it needs to be. It doesn’t have to be here when they have land [industrially designated] at Duke Point for this purpose,” said Dorothy Fahr, a neighbour.
The Cowichan Valley Regional District suspects firefighters will be on the scene several days.
Kendall Hanson
