By Colleen Dane - Originally published in the Comox Valley Record, January 27, 2009.

CUMBERLAND AND COURTENAY firefighters battle a stubborn blaze at the IPI recycling depot in Cumberland. A number of warehouses at the site were fully engulfed in flames Saturday. A plume of thick, black smoke could been seen for kilometres. .

A large fire at the IPI recyclables sorting facility in Cumberland will not affect regular weekly blue-box collection in Comox and Courtenay.

“The recycling program is going to stay in effect. Our trucks and our office is fine,” said Ed Walsh, Vancouver Island general manager for the company.

At 10:30 a.m. Saturday, a call came into the Cumberland fire department of a structure fire on Royston Road.

“Very quickly all of these flammables lit on fire — very quickly, the fire was up through the roof even just as we came on scene,” said fire chief Ken McClure.

The warehouse, beside Island Truss just west of Union Road, is a sorting and storage facility for recyclables collected in roadside pickup programs in Courtenay, Comox and Campbell River. Once sorted, the recyclables are pressed into bales, where they’re sold off for processing, or these days, stored until a market for the material opens up again.

The fire got right into the bales, creating an acrid smoke and smoldering flames that lasted for days.

“We tried to extinguish as quickly as possible but to be able to tear those (bales) apart, we had to bring in heavy equipment,” said McClure, who added that the help of the Courtenay Fire Department’s ladder truck was really important.

“It’s one of the biggest structure fires we’ve had in the village,” said McClure. “It was very hot, very smoky, very dirty.”

The department used most of the fire foam available in the Comox Valley, and on Monday it was looking to restock the three municipal departments, as well as 19 Wing’s supply.

While there was little that could be done about the smoke in the air, the Cumberland department tried to minimize the environmental impacts on the ground, with booms and soaker pads that would hopefully keep chemicals out of drains.

At council on Monday afternoon, acting Mayor Leslie Baird said the provincial Ministry of Environment was satisfied with how potential impacts were mitigated, adding that the village used the equivalent of one-day’s worth of water to put the fire out (500,000 gallons).

IPI said they will continue their blue-box programs in the local municipalities, and will likely ship collections to a processing facility in Nanaimo. The Cumberland site will still be a base of operations since the trucks and office were saved from the fire.

“We’re going to rebuild but how long that will take, I don’t know,” said Walsh.

He said they will sift through the piles of burned plastic containers and aluminum cans and see if anything is still recyclable. The rest will have to go to the landfill.

“It’s unfortunate and we don’t ever want to have more in the landfill … but obviously we can accept what needs to come in,” said Leigh Carter, public relations general manager for the Comox Valley Regional District, which operates the landfill in Cumberland.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, and McClure has asked for assistance from the RCMP’s fire investigator and the fire commissioner’s office.

“Trying to determine the cause here will be difficult because there’s not a lot left,” said McClure.

Even on Monday, the fire department was still working on the site, along with the company. Firefighters said thank you to the community for its kindness throughout the ordeal, saying gifts of coffee, soup and other goodies were much appreciated.

They also pass on their condolences to the family of Stan Hagen. Some of their members intended to attend his celebration of life Saturday, but were unable to make it when the fire broke out, said McClure.

reportercomoxvalleyrecord.com

Photos here.