Fire officials say blaze is ‘deep-seated’ in a large pile of scrap at the compound.

Crews from the Saskatoon Fire Department and other communities are battling a large blaze at a metal and steel recycling complex outside of the city.

The fire, which started as a controlled burn, is located in the construction and demolition recycling area of BN Steels and Metals, which is located just north of the city on Highway 12.

Felicia Johnson, operations manager with BN, said there have been no injuries reported and everyone at the facility is accounted for.

BN Steel and Metals fire

14 hours ago0:36Saskatoon fire crews were at a fire at BN Steel and Metal on Thursday afternoon. 0:36

“There was a controlled fire and an ember flew into our recycling construction, demolition waste and that’s where it took off,” she said. 

Johnson said the fire is located outside and that as of Thursday afternoon, fire crews appeared to have the blaze contained. 

“They are just controlling the fire right now,” she said. “Everybody is safe and there was no equipment damaged.” 

Wayne Rodger, assistant fire chief with the Saskatoon Fire Department, said three trucks were dispatched to the call from the City of Saskatoon, but noted crews from Martensville, Warman and Dalmeny were also on site. 

“Right now, we’re faced with a fire that is fairly deep-seated into a large pile of scrap with varying amounts of combustible and non-combustible material,” said Rodger. “It’s pretty big and to try and move that around to get into the deeper portions of that pile is the challenge.” 

Rodger said crews were constructing a fire break that will separate the fire from the rest of the facility.

“From the looks of it, and talking to our incident commander here, the belief is that we’re going to be here for quite some time,” he said.

Rodger said there have been no firefighters injured and that the department will be doing follow-up at the site once the blaze is out completely.