MANDEVILLE, La. — St. Tammany Parish firefighters are battling a large fire at a scrapyard in Mandeville Thursday morning.
"it's a debris pile of scrap metal," said Mandeville Fire Chief Kenneth Moore. "There's no structures involved, nobody's been hurt. It's going to take a long time (to extinguish) because of the size of the pile."
The fire started around 8 a.m.at P&W Industries off Louisiana Highway 59 in Mandeville.
Moore said the fire was 60-70% extinguished, but knockdown could take several more hours because of the size of the pile. Car parts, appliances and home furnishings are all burning, officials said.
As of noon Thursday, no structures were threatened and no injuries were reported.
Fire crews from nine fire departments across the parish are reportedly at the scene.
Mandeville Fire Prevention Officer Jeremy Windom said it has been 20 years since a fire like this has burned at P&W Industries.
He said there was "no reason to believe this was set intentionally,” but the cause is still under investigation.
Because of the thick smoke coming from the burning scrap metal, fire officials are urging anybody downwind of the fire to close their windows and stay indoors if possible.
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