Massive storm debris pile catches fire in St. Pete

St. Petersburg Fire Rescue evacuated residents in St. Petersburg’s Ponce De Leon neighborhood Thursday afternoon as a raging fire engulfed a large storm debris pile.

The Aceros America St. Pete scrap yard called the agency at approximately 1:55 p.m. Firefighters had the blaze contained as of 4 p.m. and received no reports of injuries.

However, Captain Garth Swingle expects the debris pile to continue burning into the evening. St. Petersburg Police have cordoned off the area due to the thick – and potentially toxic – smoke.

“This is going to take a long time because the debris pile is so deep, and the fire goes all the way down,” Swingle said. “So, we have to put a lot of water on it. We’re going to be here for hours doing that.”

A massive cloud of potentially toxic smoke forced first responders to evacuate the surrounding area.

Aceros America is at 2550 30^th Ave. N. Officers blocked all roads from Morris Street to 28^th Street and 26^th  to 30^th Avenues North.

While the facility typically processes metal, Swingle said, “Anything could be in that pile.” That necessitated evacuating an unknown number of surrounding residents.

“We made sure we had some crowd control,” Swingle added. “So, nobody is inhaling that smoke that’s coming by.”

The two-alarm fire underscores the importance of sorting storm debris before bringing it to collection sites. Swingle noted that many companies have assisted the storm-weary community by accepting remnants of residences damaged by two hurricanes in less than two weeks.

He credited Aceros for opening its doors and separating storm debris into organized piles. “They know anything could catch fire or release anything that’s going to be dangerous,” Swingle said.

He also noted that company officials must trust that residents have removed any potentially hazardous materials. Workers unsuccessfully attempted to mitigate the blaze with fire extinguishers strategically placed near the mounds of debris.

“There’s so much debris in there and so much fire – I don’t know if we’re going to be able to find a specific cause,” Swingle said.

He explained that metal appliances contain highly flammable insulation. A nearly endless array of materials, like motors, batteries or a seemingly empty gas can could have ignited the blaze.

Duke Energy announced Thursday afternoon that it restored electricity to 99% of Pinellas County customers. Swingle said flames reached surrounding power lines, and Fire Rescue officials notified the utility.

Duke’s neighborhood-specific outage map is offline, and Swingle is unsure if the blaze caused any outages. “Hopefully, we were able to knock it down before that,” he said.

The smoke was visible from the downtown St. Petersburg waterfront. Photo by Lauren Bell.

Swingle explained that three engines, a ladder truck, a rescue truck, a district chief and a squad lieutenant respond to a one-alarm fire. That doubles for each additional alarm.

Swingle said personnel would utilize heavy machinery to “take the pile off, piece by piece.” That will ensure “each part is out – and will stay out.”

The fire is St. Petersburg’s first related to storm debris that now lines streets citywide. However, an expansive municipal collection site at Egan Park in St. Pete Beach ignited Wednesday night.

“It’s always on our radar,” Swingle said. “We train for this. Now we are really good at having a plan ready to go.”

He urged residents not to let the cooler weather and ubiquitous piles of kindling and logs scattered throughout neighborhoods tempt them into burning vegetative debris. Swingle noted that would violate a county ordinance and put themselves and others in danger.

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