PORTAGE, Wis. -- A fire heavily damaged the Columbia County Recycling and Solid Waste Center Sunday afternoon, Portage Fire Department officials said.
Emergency crews were called to the center, located along State Highway 16 outside of Portage, just before 4 p.m. Heavy black smoke could be seen coming from the building.
Columbia County Recycling and Solid Waste Center fire
CREDIT: Portage Fire Department
CREDIT: Portage Fire Department
CREDIT: Portage Fire Department
CREDIT: Portage Fire Department
Officials said that a three-story steel building filled with tons of garbage was on fire when crews arrived. Firefighters where able to stop the fire from spreading to the recycling portion of the building.
Greg Kaminski, the director of Columbia County Solid Waste, told News 3 Now Monday the likely cause was a lithium-ion battery.
"They should not go in the garbage, they should not go in the recycling," Kaminski said. He continued, "we had a situation last October where in our recycling facility we had a small fire but we caught it early enough before it caused any damage."Â
Kaminski hopes residents in Columbia County will stop throwing lithium-ion batteries in their garbage bins, which will reduce incidents like these. The county does offer a program where residents can drop off items containing the batteries in person at the solid waste site.Â
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