A stubborn smoldering fire burned at a recycling plant in an industrial Elyria-Swansea neighborhood of north Denver today, spewing clouds of white and yellow smoke.

The blaze burned several tons of cardboard bales, paper and plastic at the Waste Management Recycle America plant for a few hours as 75 Denver firefighters, or a second alarm, responded to get control of the smoke and flames. Waste Management Recycle America is a subsidiary of Waste Management.
Firefighters perched at the end of three large ladder booms that overlooked the smoldering debris sprayed cannons of water over the bales, having to deal more with blowing smoke than flames.

Firefighters on the ground used rakes, pike poles and other tools to try to rip apart and turn over the cardboard to reach the smoking embers underneath the piles.

Heather Green, fire department spokeswoman, said firefighters struggled because the water used to extinguish the blaze made the cardboard wet and heavy, and difficult to overturn.

Embers carried by wind flew to adjacent bales of cardboard and paper, which created more heavy smoke, Green said. The different wind directions also carried smoke throughout the industrial area which could be seen from Interstate 70.

"There were so many fires all over the place," Green said. "The embers were flying and with the wind that was going they were going from one pile to another, and start(ing) the next one up."

No firefighters or company employees were injured.

Fire investigators and the company are looking at the possibility that a load of cardboard that was transported to the plant, 3600 E. 48th Ave., had some smoldering material and started the blaze shortly before noon.