Officials with the Portage Fire Department say a massive fire at a recycling center has been mostly contained, but crews will continue to work at the scene on Thursday.
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PORTAGE, Wis. -- Firefighters spent nearly half of Wednesday battling a fire at the Columbia…
PORTAGE, Wis. -- Officials with the Portage Fire Department say a massive fire at a recycling center has been mostly contained, but crews will continue to work at the scene on Thursday.
In an update on Facebook Thursday morning, the Portage Fire Department said crews worked through the night to control the fire before they were sent home at 4 a.m. to get some rest. One crew stayed at the scene to monitor hot spots until operations could begin again later Thursday morning.
Portage Fire Chief Troy Haase told News 3 Now on Thursday that new a set of personnel began working at the site at about 7:30 a.m. Thursday, working with local excavators to work over the debris from the fire and put out any remaining flames.
"We're going to keep working with excavators to move the garbage and stuff around, we'll put it out as they move it," Haase said Thursday.
Haase estimates that fire crews will remain at the recycling center for the next couple of days to monitor hot spots and put out any smaller fires that may still be burning.
"We'll get out most of it and we'll probably have to come back again and check on it," Haase said.
Crews have been on the scene at the Columbia County Recycling and Solid Waste Center since about 2 p.m. Wednesday, with the Portage Fire Department getting mutual aid from more than 30 fire departments in surrounding municipalities and counties.
The origin and cause of the fire is still under investigation, but Haase said Wednesday night that the fire quickly spread after a bale of cardboard caught on fire.
"It initially started with one bale of cardboard on fire today, spread to the next two or three, next thing you know we have a fully involved structure, then it spread to three other buildings," Haase said Wednesday night.
On Thursday morning, the Portage Fire Department said there is heavy fire damage to all of the structures and machinery at the recycling center, with two structures at the facility being considered a total loss.
The fire is the second at the recycling center in the past 10 days. While the cause of the latest fire is still yet to be determined, Haase said Thursday that he believes the two fires were "totally different" situations.
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