A serious fire at a Clayton County recycling plant raged through the night Wednesday and well into Thursday morning, shutting down a busy road for about 16 hours.
A large pile of scrap metal that contained several old cars went up in flames about 6:40 p.m. Wednesday at the Amerigo Metal Recycling plant near the intersection of Forest Parkway and Jonesboro Road. Clayton fire crews battled the flames for hours before they were finally contained Thursday morning.
During the height of the blaze, massive flames could be seen on traffic cameras sending a column of smoke billowing into the sky. Fire crews remained at the scene checking on hot spots into Thursday afternoon, according to Clayton County fire spokeswoman Joanne Southerland.
Despite the intensity and longevity of the blaze, no one was injured, she said. The county fire marshal is still investigating the cause of the fire.
All lanes of Forest Parkway were closed from Wednesday evening until 11:45 a.m. Thursday, according to Lake City police.
Credit: WSBTV Videos
Serious fires at metal scrapyards are not rare in the metro Atlanta area.
Earlier this year, an intense fire that erupted at M&M Waste Dumpsters, a southeast Atlanta salvage yard, threatened a nearby railway and shut down an industrial thoroughfare for most of the day.
Another large fire at the same Amerigo plant shut down Forest Parkway two years ago. The April 2019 blaze engulfed a 30-foot-tall pile of scrap metal and was contained within three hours.
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