Metalico Buffalo fire causes estimated $2 million in damage

Katie Skoog

July 28, 2024 at 7:18 AM·2 min read

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — A scrap metal fire that broke out Saturday afternoon at Metalico Buffalo sent a large plume of black smoke into the sky, which could be seen for miles.

The fire at 127 Fillmore Ave. was first reported around 3:30 p.m. and the Buffalo Fire Department received the first call around 4:20 p.m., said Buffalo Fire Department Commissioner William Rinaldo. There were no injuries.

“Companies arrived, they followed a scrap pile, approximately 100 by 150 feet, approximately 20 to 30 feet high,” he said. “We quickly escalated to a second alarm, so we got more companies here, established a water supply.”

The early estimate of damages is in excess of $2 million, Rinaldo said, which includes the company’s equipment and the scrap metal.

Buffalo’s Emergency Operation Center was activated and Erie County’s Hazardous Materials Response Team went to the scene.

“The county hazmat team did air quality at the very beginning to establish a base and it was at zero,” Rinaldo said. “There’s no threat to the neighborhood.”

Rinaldo said heavy equipment owned by the company was removed from the pile to uncover the “hot spots” of the fire, where fire crews applied then foam.

“They get everything from lawnmowers to automobiles to motorcycles and they’re supposed to have the gas tanks and the oil tanks drained completely, but I’m sure they get some of those vehicles in here that aren’t,” he said.

The owner’s representatives were on the scene early Saturday night after the fire and the company’s last workers left around noon, Rinaldo said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.