NEW ORLEANS – Orange flames and thick black smoke rose high above Southern Scrap Recycling on Florida Avenue in the Lower 9th Ward Friday afternoon.
A one-alarm fire broke out at the facility around 12:31 p.m. on June 8 that engulfed around 400 cars inside the lot.
Eleven units and two tugboats carrying nearly 30 firefighters were on the scene battling the blaze.
This isn’t the first fire at this scrap yard. There was a trash fire in Febrauary and another fire about two weeks later in March.
NOFD’s Public Information Officer Greg David said the location of the scrapyard makes responding difficult for firefighters.
“We don't have access to water, so it took a while to get water on the fire, but once they got water on the fire they were able to knock it down quickly,” he said.
The scrapyard fire did not affect any residential areas and no injuries were reported, according to NOFD.