Yates Ave. hog fuel continues to burn

Second fire within one week at And-Son Contracting

20171108-Woodchip fire lots of smoke-DT-02

Payloader clears smoky wood chips one week ago at And-Son Contracting. Darren Taylor/SooToday

Sault Ste. Marie firefighters were back late last night at the scene of an industrial wood-chip fire on Yates Ave.

Platoon Chief Stan Martynuck says a pumper and tanker were called out shortly after 10 p.m. to the And-Son Contracting yard, to the same spot where a similar fire occurred in a pile of hog fuel one week ago.

Hog fuel is wood shavings used to fire industrial boilers.

Firefighters remained at the scene for 90 minutes last night.

The business owner brought in a payloader to separate those parts of the pile where deep-seated combustion was occurring, Martynuck told SooToday.

A thermal imaging camera showed temperatures in the mid-40 degree Celsius range, but the camera can't detect high temperature deep within a wood-chip pile, and such fires can remain dormant for considerable lengths of time.