JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – The Jackson Fire Department has been working around the clock since Saturday afternoon to extinguish a fire at Mississippi Tire Recycling in South Jackson.
According to Deputy Fire Chief Cleotha Sanders Jr., the fire is under control and is not expected to spread further.
He estimates that it will take about one and a half to two weeks for the fire to be completely extinguished.
Sanders told WLBT 3 On Your Side that this point could only be reached through a team effort across multiple departments and agencies.
“The men and women of the Jackson Fire Department did a great job of getting the fire under control. We believe our brothers and sisters in the fire departments in the metropolitan area were really there to support the Jackson Fire Department on this fire this past weekend,” Sanders said.
The Jackson Fire Department is working with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Conservation to ensure fire crews can extinguish the fire while protecting the environment.
Cody Fisher of the Department of Environmental Quality says there is currently no air quality threat to public health.
“The readings we received for the components of concern in a fire like this were below the action levels. We would give those action levels back to the fire department if they had to order shelters or evacuations or something like that,” Fisher said.
As crews continue to work in the summer heat, fire officials are protecting firefighters’ physical and mental health by providing on-site hydration and rehabilitation stations and staggering shifts.
“We have three different shifts, so it’s not like every firefighter on scene is the same as the day before. So we rotate the teams. We make sure that, even today, we rotate the teams that are on scene so that it doesn’t get so stressful for any one team,” Sanders said.
Sanders told WLBT 3 On Your Side that a gas line may have played a role in the fire, but that this has not been confirmed.
This is an ongoing investigation.
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