VALLEY PARK, Mo. – A massive fire erupted Thursday afternoon at a scrap metal company near Interstate 44 and 141 in Valley Park.
“Traffic was backed up, people were gawking,” said Shannon Coleman, an eyewitness to the blaze.
Those in their cars spotted the fire flaring up and called 911.
“I was actually driving at 141 and I saw it,” said Curtis Vangassbaek, assistant chief of the Valley Park Fire Protection District. “So, we had a really rapid response time, a lot of people on the road already.”
The Valley Park Fire Protection District arrived on the scene of the first alarm fire at Scarp Mart Metals Recycling around 4:30 p.m.
“We thought it was going to burn all day,” Coleman said.
Coleman was working at the ZX gas station across the highway when she saw the scrapyard go up in flames.
“I was just inside working and next thing we knew there was a bunch of smoke outside,” she said. “We looked out and there was flames going everywhere over there, smoke going about 50 feet high.”
Fenton and West County Fire Departments arrived on the scene to help put out the fire.
“They put the ladders up and about 20 minutes later, they got it down to pretty much of a smother, it was just white smoke coming out,” Coleman said.
There were no injuries reported. The building was the only thing damaged in the fire.
“Everything gets dumped in a scrapyard, so no telling what’s in there,” Vangaasbaek said.
According to the company website, they recycle aluminum, copper, steel, brass, computers, batteries, and cars. It appears that a bunch of materials was burned up.
The cause of the fire is unknown, but officials are expected to release more information about the damage on Friday.
FOX 2 reached out to management for a comment, but we have not received a response.