20 years ago, huge fire at Schnitzer Steel sent up a smoke plume visible from Seattle

Editor’s note: On July 19, 2001, a huge fire broke out in a scrap pile at Schnitzer Steel Co. in Tacoma. Here is The News Tribune’s reporting at the time:

Fire roared through a 100-foot-high pile of crushed cars along Hylebos Waterway on Thursday, sending up billowing plumes of black smoke visible as far away as Seattle.

The two-alarm fire started just before 2 p.m in a scrap metal pile at Schnitzer Steel Co., 1902 Marine View Drive, according to the Tacoma Fire Department.

“It looked like a mountain on fire,” said Brian Smith, cook and deckhand on a Foss tugboat that responded to the waterway side of the fire. “This one really got out quick.”

No injuries were caused by the blaze, which firefighters contained to the scrap yard. But smoke from the fire continued to drift inland late Thursday night. Crews were not sure when they would be able to extinguish the fire, the cause of which had not been determined.

Schnitzer officials refused to comment about the fire, and their workers banned reporters from the property.

The fire burned in a 40,000-square-foot pile of scrap that contained about 11,000 tons of crushed cars from Japan, said deputy chief Gary Steinhoff, fire commander on the scene.

Heavy black smoke drifted over Northeast Tacoma, Fife Heights, Fife and Tacoma, depending on the shifting wind direction.

The fire burned through paint, plastic, rubber, vinyl and car insulation in the scrap pile. Nonmetallic materials made up about 20 percent of the scrap pile, said Jeff Rodin of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“There are some toxics in it,” he said of the fire’s smoke.

People with breathing problems should stay indoors if the smoke drifts their way, Rodin said. Or they should leave the area until the fire is controlled enough to eliminate the drifting smoke.

The EPA has deployed air quality monitors in the area.

The fire department called Northeast Tacoma residents and businesses to tell them that a wind shift Thursday evening could bring smoke into their areas.

Deputy fire chief Ralph Johns said crews warned people to stay indoors, close all doors and windows, and close outside air vents if they saw or smelled smoke.

People who want to leave the area because of the smoke can call 253-404-3719 to find out where the Red Cross has set up a shelter.

Water from firefighting overwhelmed storm drains about 4:30 p.m., and contaminated liquid flowed back into Hylebos Waterway, which contains federally protected fish.

The water pollution was allowed so the fire could be fought, Rodin said. The blaze has to be suppressed because smoke was affecting urban areas, he said. Had it happened in a rural area, the fire might be allowed to burn out, he said.

The EPA is monitoring water quality in the Hylebos. In the long term, he said, there may have to be a cleanup project in the waterway.

Fire investigator Doug McConnell said Schnitzer workers left for lunch and, when they returned, spotted a small fire at the top of the pile and “it just went up.”

About 75 Tacoma firefighters, arriving in eight fire engines and in two fireboats, managed in three hours to contain the fire to the pile and to knock down the 50-foot-high flames.

Even one of the company cranes was used to fight the fire, using a bucket-like piece of equipment to dip 7,000 gallons of water at a time out of the waterway and pour it on the fire.

Fire officials said flames penetrated the pile and superheated the thousands of tons of metal and other materials. Firefighters couldn’t walk on the burning pile, so they attacked it with water-blasting hoses mounted on the fireboats and on ladders atop fire engines.

“It’s so full of fuel and so hard to get at,” Johns said.

Heat from the fire could be felt 200 yards away, across Marine View Drive. Booms and loud pops, some sounding like high-powered rifle shots, came from the burning pile throughout the afternoon.

Johns said firefighters weren’t sure what was causing the small explosions.

Don Bettencourt, a designer at Weldco-Beales, works next door to the scrap metal yard. He said the machine that crushes cars ignites violent explosions several times a week, apparently when it encounters a car with residual fuel in the tank.

“The shock wave just knocks us crazy,” Bettencourt said. “You go outside and see smoke and debris” coming off the machine. Some days, there are three or four explosions, he said, followed by a day or two without any.

“It kind of makes you feel like you’re in a war zone,” he said.

The fire produced a tower of black smoke that was pushed inland by mild breezes coming off Commencement Bay.

Several dozen Fife homes on the valley floor were cloaked for hours in a gray haze. Most residents of homes overlooking the bay were spared significant inconvenience Thursday afternoon as the smoke seemed to billow away from the populated ridge.

“It’s cooperating fine and it’s rising fast,” Ardelle Heiberg said about 6:30 p.m. from her home on 12th Street Northeast. Others followed the smoke to get a better look at the blaze.

Emily Weed and daughter Amanda - self-described “natural born fire chasers” - spotted the inky plume from Puyallup’s South Hill and quickly drove to Tacoma for a better look.

They found excellent viewing from a vacant field across the Hylebos from the burning pile.

“When she saw the column, I said, ‘Do you have any plans today?’” Emily Weed said from her shoreline perch.

About 50 other fire watchers stood or sat nearby. Among them was Tacoma’s Tehere Bennett, who spotted the smoke from University Place and rushed over to make sure his house near the Tacoma Dome wasn’t burning.

“I’m a big fan of watching the news,” Bennett said. “I’ll take this as my live coverage.”

Dustin Willis said he and Daryle Kosel also saw the fire from South Hill. They parked along Marine View Drive to get a closer look.

“We build chimneys,” Kosel said. “We said, ‘Wow man, something’s burning.’”